South Korea’s largest casino Kangwon Land is under fire for alleged favoritism the state-run operator is showing certain electronic gaming machine (EGM) suppliers.

On Thursday, the Korea Times quoted People Power Party Rep. Ku Ja-keun saying three companies – Taeshin Inpack, Nongshim Data System Corp (NDS) and KGS – had claimed over half of the EGM supply contracts for Kangwon Land since 2013, even though some of those contract were awarded despite apparent violations of the tender process.

Taeshin Inpack is a subsidiary of cosmetics firm AmorePacific, whose chairman Suh Kyung-bae is the son-in-law of NDS chairman Shin Chun-ho. Suh is also cousin to the heads of both Taeshin and KGS. The three companies have bid on Kangwon Land contracts both separately and as a consortium, the latter winning three of four bids over the past two years.  

Rep. Ku is calling for a probe of Kangwon Land’s procurement process based on certain irregularities in the three EGM suppliers’ bids. NDS won an electronic table games tender despite submitting its bid after the July 22 deadline. Kangwon Land also agreed to ignore a stipulation that the casino gear include a ‘roll-back’ feature, something the NDS gear claimed to offer but didn’t. 

UK gambling advertising could lose their celebrity pitchmen (and women) depending on how the general public responds to the government’s new consultation.

On Thursday, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) opened a consultation on “new strengthened rules and guidance for gambling ads to protect children and young people.” Individuals wishing to make their opinion heard – or operators wanting full details on what horrors to expect – can go here. The consultations closes at 5pm on January 22, 2021.

The consultation follows a report by the industry-funded GambleAware charity that suggested gambling advertising may be having greater impact than originally suspected on individuals under 18 years of age as well as adults deemed more vulnerable to gambling problems.

As such, the consultation seeks input on proposals to prohibit gambling and lottery marketing that ‘strongly’ appeals to under-18s. Existing rules prohibit ads that ‘particularly’ appeal to under-18s, so it’s clear operators are facing no end of semantic hair-splitting going forward.

Premier League Preview – Gameweek #6 

This week’s Premier League fixtures see a potential top four clash, a meeting between two sides who have been in Europa League action just hours before and the renewal of rivalries between two sides who last met in Premier League well over a decade and a half ago.  

Let’s look for the latest Premier League odds in the weekend’s fixtures.  

Aston Villa vs. Leeds United (Friday, 8pm GMT kick-off)  

Australian casino operator Crown Resorts is losing two directors after a contentious annual general meeting that followed weeks of damaging revelations regarding regulatory non-compliance.

On Thursday, Crown announced the imminent retirement of directors John Alexander and John Horvath, both of whose names were recently tarnished at the New South Wales Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) inquiry into Crown’s suitability to hold a state gaming license for its Crown Sydney property.

Horvath was one of three directors up for re-election at Crown’s AGM on Thursday, and investors holding 31.3% of Crown shares voted against him retaining his seat. That’s slightly worse than the 24.8% who voted against Jane Halton’s re-election but much better than the 41.4% who voted against Guy Jalland sticking around.

All three directors had their bacon saved through the voting clout of James Packer, who controls around 36% of Crown stock and originally recommended Jalland’s board appointment. Horvath appears to have understood that most shareholders not named Packer wanted him gone, while Jalland and Halton appear to be of the ‘from my cold dead hands’ school of corporate entitlement.

PFL to Provide Fans with Unparalleled Access to the League, Fighters and Action Through Blockchain-Based Fan Engagement Platform Socios.com

NEW YORK (October 22, 2020): Professional Fighters League (PFL), the fastest growing and most innovative sports league in the world, today announced a global partnership with Socios.com, a leading blockchain fintech company in the sports space.

This new partnership will see the PFL launch Fan Tokens, digital assets that provide fans with engagement opportunities – including voting rights and the chance to earn exclusive rewards, on blockchain-based fan voting and rewards app Socios.com, the “Official Fan Token Partner of the PFL.”

Italy’s gambling advertising ban has led the country’s telecom watchdog to slap a financial penalty on search engine giant Google.

On Thursday, the Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM) announced that it had imposed a ‘pecuniary administrative sanction’ against Google Ireland Ltd for violating the gambling advertising prohibitions in Italy’s so-called Dignity Decree.

The Decree, which was announced in mid-2018 and took effect the following January, prohibited nearly all forms of gambling advertising and sponsorship activity. The restriction was intended to counter Italy’s problem gambling rates but locally licensed operators claimed the changes would result in a marketing surge by operators not holding Italian licenses.  

The specifics of AGCOM’s Google animus relate to paid search ads for Sublimecasino.com, a French marketing affiliate. AGCOM’s announcement didn’t specify the size of Google’s penalty but French media reported that the fine was €100k.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The UFC finishes up about a month-long stay at its Fight Island facility in Abu Dhabi this Saturday with one of the most anticipated bouts of the year as a lightweight title fight between unbeaten champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and interim champion Justin Gaethje highlights UFC 254. The main card starts much earlier than usual at 2 p.m. ET and is available via pay-per-view.

The 32-year-old Khabib, from Russia, is 28-0 – the longest active unbeaten streak in mixed martial arts – and ranked as the UFC’s No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter behind Jon Jones (who may or may not fight in the organization again). “The Eagle” won the lightweight title in April 2018 over Al Iaquinta but really became a household name in North America in another title bout against Conor McGregor in October of that year at UFC 229. Khabib won by fourth-round submission. There was a brawl after that bout that led to a six-month suspension for Khabib.

He hasn’t been in the Octagon since September 2019 when he defended the belt again with a third-round submission of then-interim champion Dustin Poirier. Khabib and Gaethje were originally to meet in September, but Khabib’s father, Abdulmanap, passed away from health complications after having contracted COVID-19. Khabib also was set to defend his belt in April against Tony Ferguson, but Khabib was not able to leave Russia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online gambling technology suppliers Evolution and NetEnt are both living their best lives as earnings soar ahead of the companies’ proposed merger.  

Figures released Thursday by the Stockholm-listed Evolution (formerly Evolution Gaming, until a corporate rebrand dumped the ‘Gaming’ earlier this month) show the company generated revenue of €140m in the three months ending September 30, up 48% from Q3 2019. Earnings rose 87% to €90.7m while profit doubled to €79.4m.

Evolution CEO Martin Carlesund hailed Q3 as “a period of exceptionally high activity” thanks to the pandemic suspension of major sports creating a boost in online casino activity across the globe. Evolution customers reported their players making 12.9b individual bets in Q3, up from just 5.8b in Q3 2019.

The pandemic did result in limits on Evolution’s live casino studio operations but this also kept expenses down and the company is “slowly coming back towards pre-COVID levels in number of tables.” Since the quarter ended, Evolution has launched its first live tables in Pennsylvania and a new “medium sized” studio in Kaunas, Lithuania.

With the Rugby Championship on hiatus for a week, the focus will be on the third round of Super Rugby Unlocked. The Springboks won’t be travelling to Australia for the tri-series tournament, leaving the South African sides to compete on the domestic front. International rugby returns to the Northern Hemisphere this weekend as Ireland face off against Italy to finish out round four of the Six Nations that was interrupted by the Covid-19 break.

Pumas vs Stormers

The Pumas are set to face the Stormers for the first time in their brief history and will mark the occasion with their first Super Rugby fixture in front of their home fans. This will be the first time the Pumas have face a side that played in the 2020 Super Rugby competition before COVID. The Stormers claimed a 23-17 win in their only fixture to date this season and are the only side to score a win after trailing at halftime. Herschel Jantjies has been on song in 2020; the playmaker has been involved in nine tries in his last nine Super Rugby matches with 5 tries and 4 assists.

Pumas – 12/1

The gambling industry likely won’t see stable regulations all around the world for a very long time. As discussed at the Betting on Sports Europe Digital summit, operators are just going to have to step up and prove they have the customers safety at heart if they want to win over the public’s trust.

That was the agreed upon sentiment from regulators and operators alike. As Sandhya Singh, Head of Risk and Fraud at Napoleon Sports and Casino, put it:

“If I’m a customer and I go and play on a website, I need to feel protected. So, I want each of my Napoleon customers to feel that when they are on our website, they should see all our procedures that we have in places and know that it is an absolutely ethical site they are playing on.”

That’s necessary, because as PAF’s Chief Responsibility Officer, Daniela Johansson put it, individual operators have to do more to overshadow those that take the spotlight with bad behavior. “The gambling industry has taken a lot of positive steps forward but for every step forward, there is a negative story and that will kill the advancements that have been made in the industry,” she said. “We need the support and society to believe that we are a sustainable business.”

Last week, we reported on perhaps the worst sessions of Chance Kornuth’s Galfond Challenge. Up against Phil Galfond, the Chip Leader Coaching owner was down to the tune of €280,000.  

The comeback may well have only just begun, as in this week’s sessions in the Galfond Challenge, Chance Kornuth has wiped out that debt and moved into a slim lead in the contest, as he was happy to tell his fans about on social media.  

Another great day. Won 156k bringing the total to +189k. https://t.co/3caLNb9g7O

— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) October 21, 2020https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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. Our Press Release section is updated constantly.

Pariplay Portuguese Presence Propelled by Partnership with Solverde Group

Provider’s first-class content extends regulated market reach via agreement with historic casino group

Singapore has a couple of casinos that would love to see everyone turn out on a daily basis to help them recover from the COVID-19 debacle. Marina Bay Sands, a Las Vegas Sands casino in the country, has already started to turn things around, even if it is still in the red, but still isn’t a target for gamblers. This became apparent after Singapore police recently busted two illegal gambling operations and there are now as many as 35 people who could be looking at fines and/or jail time. If only they had opted for a legal option, despite the required casino entry fee, this wouldn’t have happened. 

In one case, part of a five-day enforcement action that wrapped up this past Sunday, police arrested 11 men following a raid on an industrial building that took place on October 17. According to a statement prepared by law enforcement, “Preliminary investigations revealed that a 32-year-old man purportedly operated the gambling den, with two men, aged 21 and 38 respectively, assisting in the management of the illegal operations.”

In addition to those 11, another eight are suspected of having taken advantage of the illegal gambling operation to find a little action, and the police are still investigating the individuals and the underground casino. When they conducted their raid, they found two poker tables, gambling equipment and 20 chairs, so the organizers must have been running a popular gambling house.

In another incident, police nabbed 23 people on ties to illegal gambling, but law enforcement didn’t offer a lot of details. The police only stated that the individuals, all between 46 and 76 years of age, were arrested for gambling offenses and that they had confiscated a little more than US$6,100 when they launched their attacks on the areas of Jalan Besar, Geylang Bahru and Chinatown.