UK-listed online gambling operator 888 Holdings has “never been so healthy in our lives,” according to CEO Brian Mattingley (pictured).

Mattingley said 888 was “on fire” after posting record profits in 2014. Revenue in the 12 months ending Dec. 31 rose 14% to $455m, adjusted earnings jumped one-third to $101m and profit before tax gained 28% to $68m. 888 shares rose nearly 4% on Tuesday to close at 158.5p.

B2C revenue rose 11% to $391m. Online casino revenue was up 16% to $220.6m while bingo gained 7% to $47m. 888’s poker vertical was flat year-on-year at $94m, although, given the negative state of the global online poker market, flat revenue represents something of a major victory. Active poker player ranks rose 8% in Q4.

888’s ‘emerging offerings’ rose 22% to $30m. This category includes 888’s Kambi Sports Solutions-powered sportsbook 888Sport, which reported revenue up 115% thanks in part to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Mattingley called the sportsbook performance the “undoubted highlight” of 888’s 2014 report.

Macau stocks jumped yesterday in response to a Brean Capital Buy rating for four casinos in particular: Wynn, Las Vegas Sands, Melco Crown, and MGM. In response to the coverage, all four stocks jumped. Wynn in particular traded in a huge 7% range yesterday. But by the end of the day, 3 out of 4 of the stocks were down, with the exception of Wynn.

Bryan Maher is the Brean analyst who wrote the report, and he is being called contrarian here, as most Wall Street firms remain bearish on Macau. While I am certainly not bullish, Maher’s reasoning is not entirely without merit.

First I will say that in general, free advice given by Wall Street firms is not something I generally pay much attention to. What a firm publishes for public consumption versus what it tells or does for its paying clients is sometimes very different. In some cases a firm may publicize what it actually thinks in order to better its reputation and go on a client hunt. Oftentimes though, a firm may publicize the opposite of what it thinks in order to sell into strength or buy into weakness and so benefit its existing clients.

There are two ways to investigate what is going on with any given call using publicly available information. The first is to look into money flows a month or so before and after a given rating. Selling on Strength and Buying on Weakness numbers are available every day at the Wall Street Journal with archived data. If you have the time and inclination to set up large spreadsheets spanning a two-month timeframe and go on a hunt for Wynn, LVS, Melco, or MGM, then by all means. Nothing showed up on either side for any of the four stocks yesterday, for what it’s worth. Second, you can look into any form 3, 4, 13D or 13G filed with the SEC surrounding any call. Any large stake 10% or more requires a 3 or 4, and anything between 5% and 10% requires a 13D or 13G. Obviously, if you see any of these forms filed by any Wall Street firm either confirming or contradicting a public call, you know what’s really going on. As Jim Rogers says, 99% of investors don’t take the time to find these things because it’s a tedious job, and worse, it’s all archived by government websites which are pretty horrible. Not to mention the fact that a firm can always acquire less than the reporting threshold anyway.

Paddy Power has notified Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) with its intention to acquire two more betting shops in North Dublin, adding to its existing +200 betting shops in Ireland.

Paddy Power retail management confirmed that it was in the process of acquiring Donabate and Swords outlets of The Track bookmakers. The Track is owned by Balbriggan-based businessman James Reilly, who also owns Harvest Inn.

Its parent company, Track Sports, has about 20 shops in Ireland. According to its set of accounts filed for June 2013, the company has a €260,000 worth of debt on its balance sheet.

The buyout of the two North Dublin stores is the subject of a preliminary investigation at the CCPC and submissions from other interested parties are due by the end of the month.

Chinese lottery company Melcolot is on the verge of receiving a casino license in Georgia—the country, not the state.

Georgia’s Deputy Economic Minister Ketevan Bochorishvili indicated that the Melco Crown subsidiary could receive its casino operator license in the next two months, making it the company’s first casino project in Eastern Europe.

It’s been reported that Melcolot’s casino project will be built alongside the $140 million Millennium Biltmore Hotel complex with an estimated opening date of January 2016 attributed to both establishments.

Melcolot’s interest in Georgia is well-documented, having previously partnered with Taiwanese gaming device maker Firich Enterprises Co to build a license under Express Wealth Enterprise, a “special purpose vehicle” (SPV) that holds a 15-year casino license in Tbilisi.

Swedish online gambling technology provider Net Entertainment (Net Ent) has signed a license agreement to deliver a selection of its games for London-based Gamesys.

Under the agreement, Net Ent delivers a range of its slot titles to Gamesys, with the content to be rolled out across the sites it operates for Intertain Group, which acquired the majority of the operator’s customer-facing assets on February.

“Gamesys and NetEnt share a commitment to delivering the ultimate player experience and I am confident that NetEnt’s world-class slots and casino games will contribute to their continued success as one of the world’s leading online gaming businesses,” said NetEnt Marketing Director Enrico Bradamante. “Further, Gamesys has a large presence in regulated markets, which is well aligned with our growth strategy.”

Gamesys’ Virgin Games brand will remain separated alongside its other white label brands such as Heart FM, Caesars Casino and The Sun, though Net Ent’s content is to be rolled out across all sites.

Rory McIlroy has been slotted as the favorite to win the 2015 Masters, an all-too familiar position for the current number one ranked player in the world ahead of the season’s first major tournament.A lot of people seem to think that this is the year McIlroy finally breaks through and wins the Masters, the only Major that he hasn’t won yet. Even sportsbooks seem to think that Rory’s in a good position to do it at 5/1 odds that he finally gets to wear the Green Jacket. It’s not on the level of the “Tiger vs The Field” days, but it’s still significant enough that the closest golfer to McIlroy’s line is the 21-year-old Jordan Spieth at 10/1 odds.

Spieth is a worthy contender, especially after arguably having one of the most successful rookie years in the PGA Tour in quite some time. Remember, Spieth only made his Masters debut last year and actually had a share of the lead heading into the final round before losing out to eventual winner Bubba Watson. Spieth followed up his impressive showing at the Masters by winning back-to-back tournaments at the end of 2014 to cement his status as one of golf’s real rising stars.

Not to be outdone, defending Masters champion Bubba Watson is close behind at 11/1 odds. Watson’s vying to become the first back-to-back Masters champion since Tiger Woods did it in 2001 and 2002. It’s going to be easier said than done for Watson, especially with a fresh McIlroy, a hungry Spieth, and a strong field looking to deny his bid at history.

Outside of McIlroy, Spieth, and Watson, the rest of the field features a slate of past major champions, young hotshots, and senior golfers looking at one last shot at glory. Dustin Johnson,  Justin Day, Adam Scott, and Henrik Stenson headline this list with all four getting 14/1 odds to win the Masters. From there, the odds drop precipitously to 25/1 for the likes of Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, and Rickie Fowler.

Financial analysts from Sanford C. Bernstein issued a report earlier this week on Melco Crown Entertainment’s (MCE) new stock rating, tagging the casino operator’s stocks with an outperform rating.

The rating is a recommendation that the stock is expected to do slightly better than the market return. An outperform rating can also be described as “moderate buy,” “accumulate” or “market outperform”.

Brean Capital initiated its own coverage on MCE shares last week, setting a buy rating and a $31 price target. Conversely, analysts at Morgan Stanley dropped MCE from overweight to actual weight earlier this week. Zacks shared those sentiments, downgrading MCE from neutral to underperforming while setting a $20.30 price target. Finally, Deutsche Bank lowered its rating from buy to sell and cut its target price to $18, a big drop from its previous target of $27.70.

All told, two research analysts have given MCE a sell rating, compared to seven who said buy and 11 who said hold. All together, the consensus rating of MCE stock is hold with an average price target of $32.40. Over the past year, MCE’s price had a low of $20.40 and a high of $41.55.

This time last year, I was putting together the finishing touches on my annual Wrestlemania odds and thought to myself that the surest bet in the history of betting was on the Undertaker winning at Wrestlemania. Forget about trends and whatever counter-arguments people made about Taker’s Wrestlemania streak coming to an end. I even said that despite the Dead Man getting 1/9 odds against Brock Lesnar. Well, we all know what happened then. I’m recounting this story because here I am, one year later, bruised ego and all, to once again dive into Wrestlemania odds, or to be up to the times, Wrestlemania 31 odds.

It’s worth mentioning that not every sportsbook offers Wrestlemania odds, largely because leaked information on who wins in the event is enough of a deterrent that the negatives outweigh the positives. But some books do offer these types of bets and one of them, Paddy Power, has always been front and center on the action. This year, Paddy’s back with the opening betting odds for the so-called “Showcase of the Immortals” and just like in previous years, these odds could also serve as potential spoilers, albeit with a few swerves mixed in as I found out the hard way last year.

In typical WWE betting fashion, you rarely see any match that features close odds. One guy is always heavily favored over the other and it’s more of the same this year with one notable exception.

First up is the main event at Wrestlemania 31 between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. Much has been made of Lesnar’s recent contract dispute with WWE and his rumored return to the UFC so it’s easy to see why the reigning WWE World Heavyweight champion is a noticeable underdog at 9/4 odds compared to Reigns’ who is a 2/7 favorite. While I’m tempted to say that WWE has been working extra hard to put Reigns over ahead of his scheduled title run, I still have scars from Wrestlemania 30. That said, I don’t think that WWE would spend so much time pushing Reigns only to yank the carpet from under him with a Lesnar win. It may have fooled me once, but I’m certain that there won’t be a second time.

Equity and investment firm CVC Capital Partners has completed its acquisition of an 80% stake in Sky Bet, the online betting arm of UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB.

The deal, which was first announced in December 2014, values Sky Bet at £800 million (€1.1 billion/$1.2 billion).

Under the agreement, Sky received £600 million in cash and a vendor loan note, and will be entitled to further payments depending on CVC achieving certain minimum return criteria on its Sky investment.

“The sale crystallizes value for Sky that has been created in Sky Bet, and enables the enlarged Sky to focus on the significant opportunity for growth in pay-TV across the five markets in which it now operates.” Sky said.

MGM Resorts is scheduled to break ground on its $800 million casino in Springfield, Massachusetts on Tuesday.

The resort casino will occupy a 14.5 acre site in Springfield’s South End, which was destroyed by a tornado almost four years ago.

The casino is expected to open in 2017.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission granted MGM an integrated resort license for the state’s western part. Later on, it awarded Wynn Resorts a license for the Boston area but that project has not yet begun construction in Everett.

Jim Psaros has defeated Emanuel Seal to win the $183,000 first prize at the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Main Event in Sydney, and the World Poker Tour upset the Asian Poker Tour applecart with a ill-timed return to the Philippines.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) has announced plans to return to the Philippines in August.

Everyone is delighted.

Everyone except, that is, the Asian Poker Tour (APT).

The One Drop Foundation celebrate World Water Day with a specially arranged show at The Mirage, and PokerNews release footage of Dan Colman visiting Central America to see first hand the effects of the millions poker has raised for this important charity.

I only got three hours sleep last night. I went deep in the Big $11 on PokerStars. I wanted to tell everyone that I nearly won a lot of money. My ego was bursting out of my chest.

I was half asleep brushing my teeth. The cold-water tap was running. It was pouring down the sink. A child dies every 8-seconds due to a lack of access to water. Nearly 40-people died whilst I brushed my teeth. I spat my toothpaste into the toilet and flushed the chain.

There go another 10 people.

Lee Davy wants to know why the most influential ambassadors in the poker community aren’t combining their strength and lobbying power to help hundreds of thousands of Americans play online poker.

How did a writer manage before social media was created?

It must have been such a hard job.

Today, when you are struggling for something to write about, you just browse through Twitter. Pick up a few notable poker players. Find a story. Write about it.

Team Italy has won the inaugural Global Poker Masters after defeating team Russia in the final. Team UK picks up the wooden spoon.

The Italians are the first winners of the Global Poker Masters (GPM). Let’s hope it’s just the beginning of an event that seems to have picked up nothing but universal praise.

It was dubbed Poker’s World Cup (a rather big poker company has the trademark to the better sounding World Cup of Poker) and for followers of World Cup’s a few things changed and a few things didn’t.

As a Brit, my experience with World Cup’s is pretty simple. Football is my game; England my nation. We generally play crap and lose. But every now and then we play outstanding…and lose…usually against Germany.

Philippine officials have denied reports that their investigation into Universal Entertainment’s activities in the country has been closed.

Last Thursday, the Japan-based Universal issued a statement saying that dual investigations in the Philippines and Japan had “concluded for all practical purposes.” The investigations were launched over suspicions that Universal’s Philippine subsidiary had funneled $40m in questionable payments to former top execs at Philippine gaming regulator PAGCOR. The payments were allegedly made to obtain concessions related to the development of an integrated resort in Manila’s Entertainment City casino zone.

On Monday, the Philippine Department of Justice issued a clarification saying no such conclusion had been reached. GMA News quoted Justice Secretary Leila de Lima saying Prosecutor General Claro Areliano had yet to receive the resolution of the panel of prosecutors investigating the brouhaha. Areliano also denied the claim, saying that the only instruction he’d issued was to tell the panel to speed up the resolution of the case.

TRAVELLERS INTERNATIONAL PROFIT NEARLY DOUBLES DESPITE REVENUE DECLINE

Philippine officials have denied reports that their investigation into Universal Entertainment’s activities in the country has been closed.

Last Thursday, the Japan-based Universal issued a statement saying that dual investigations in the Philippines and Japan had “concluded for all practical purposes.” The investigations were launched over suspicions that Universal’s Philippine subsidiary had funneled $40m in questionable payments to former top execs at Philippine gaming regulator PAGCOR. The payments were allegedly made to obtain concessions related to the development of an integrated resort in Manila’s Entertainment City casino zone.

On Monday, the Philippine Department of Justice issued a clarification saying no such conclusion had been reached. GMA News quoted Justice Secretary Leila de Lima saying Prosecutor General Claro Areliano had yet to receive the resolution of the panel of prosecutors investigating the brouhaha. Areliano also denied the claim, saying that the only instruction he’d issued was to tell the panel to speed up the resolution of the case.

TRAVELLERS INTERNATIONAL PROFIT NEARLY DOUBLES DESPITE REVENUE DECLINE

UK-listed online payment processor Optimal Payments has struck a €1.1b deal to acquire rival Skrill.

Optimal announced on Monday that it had entered into an agreement to perform a reverse takeover of Sentinel Topco Ltd., which counts Skrill among its subsidiaries. Sentinel is currently owned by funds managed and advised by CVC Capital Partners, which acquired a majority stake in Skrill for €600m in August 2013. The parties expect to finalize the deal by Q3 2015.

Skrill, which began life as Moneybookers in 2001, is a popular payment processor in online gambling circles, and also controls the Ukash and Paysafecard businesses. Optimal has been approved in all three US states currently offering some form of intrastate online gambling and has also boosted its presence in Canada’s regulated provincial online markets.

Optimal justified its Skrill acquisition as a way to diversify its profile and ensure it isn’t overly reliant on online gambling. Optimal chairman Dennis Jones said the Skrill deal was one of those opportunities that are “few and far between” and would likely be earnings accretive “from the first full fiscal year of ownership.”