A Twitter firestorm

Jami Lafay — the professional name of Jami Daniels, a poker player and Twitter personality who is best known for her semi-regular appearances on Hustler Casino Live — became the center of a Twitter firestorm this week when her GoFundMe became the target of one of Todd Witteles’s investigations.

a goal of $50,000 to help Lafay

The GoFundMe page, started by LaFay’s boyfriend and sister, went up on Monday with a goal of $50,000 to help Lafay with her lost income during her recovery and to help with any medical expenses that are not covered by insurance.

Witteles claimed that “a lot doesn’t add up” about the campaign.

On Wednesday, the ensuing fallout reached the point that Lafay claimed to be going to court in an attempt to stop Witteles’s “harassment.”

The GoFundMe campaign

According to the GoFundMe page, doctors found a metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma (the most common form of thyroid cancer) and a pleomorphic adenoma (a benign tumor of the salivary glands) in her neck earlier in the year.

recovery will take three to six months

The situation according to the GoFundMe is that on Monday, Lafay went in for a ten-hour surgery to remove the adenoma. Complications led to a second round of surgery that night and nerve damage the next day. Further surgery will be required and recovery will take three to six months.

The same day that Lafay was in surgery, Todd Witteles took the GoFundMe to task on the Poker Fraud Alert forums. He cited inconsistencies in Lafay’s account of events and pointed out previous behavior that he felt spoke to her poor character.

Although Witteles admits that he believes that Lafay’s surgeries and illness are real, his position is that the GoFundMe is an attempt to cash in on Lafay’s misfortune rather than a good faith attempt on her part to meet a dire need.

The Twitter fallout

Once Witteles’s accusations hit Twitter, the situation did what it usually does: it escalated. Lafay and her advocates were slow to respond to the substance of Witteles’s accusations, creating a gap into which the trolls poured.

People took sides. Suspicions of bad motives became accusations of fraud. Skeptical questioning was accused of being character assassination, then actually became character assassination. Accounts were banned, threats were made.

Within a few days Lafay claimed that she making legal filings against Witteles and several other Twitter accounts.

The poker world is sensitive to scammers, the whole world is sensitive to cancer, and Twitter’s algorithm seeks out confrontation. As a result, this fire is likely to keep burning for a while. Yet another thing to lay at the door of the US healthcare system.

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SOFTSWISS was a pioneer in the online crypto-casino movement and continues to assert dominance in the arena now. Being the leader of a multi-metric solutions company focused on cryptocurrency gambling puts the company in a unique position to analyze the state of Coins in iGaming. In addition to more than a decade of experience, the company presumably has access to more data than anyone else on the subject through the provenance of its Game Aggregator and Casino Platform. The company has about 700 clients using one or both of those solutions.

In addition to annual reports, SOFTSWISS also publishes quarterly updates. While the just-in-time information is valuable, the annual reports tend to reflect longer-term trends better.

The current trends in digital coin gambling for the year 2022 compared to 2021 are not exceptionally rosy nor is the current trend toward returning to fiat currencies for online gambling seen recently. Caveats should be stated before digging into the numbers too deeply: All data comes from SS customers; partway through the year they introduced a coin-to-fiat converter and all bets placed in fiat currencies, even if the deposit and withdrawals were cryptos, were counted as fiat bets.

The value of Bitcoin and Ethereum which are the two biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap fell 65% and 67% year on year.

Overall, crypto betting fell nearly 15% but Ether increased its share of the total bets made against Bitcoin. We’ll dig into that in a moment as well.

Crypto trends in iGaming are inextricably tied to the macroeconomy and crypto’s place in it. That said, many players may have been reluctant to use digital currencies thanks to the chaotic events it was involved in including November’s FTX debacle. The overall crypto climate was basically unstable for most of the year, but gambling on the company’s platform did increase appreciably when taking fiat currency into account.

The company’s platform saw a 31% increase in total bets made in 2022 over those made in 2021. Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) increased 36% over 2021 numbers.

The platform handled over 20 billion euros in bets during the second quarter alone last year including fiat and cryptocurrencies. That number continued to grow throughout the year. The average bet placed increased by some 35% in Q2 2022 compared to the same quarter in 2021.

Contributing to the rise in numbers may have been an increasing number of SOFTSWISS game aggregator clients, new partnerships with 18 game studios and three new providers accredited in Malta, and the consistent geographical expansion of existing clients.

GGR rose 36% in 2022 from 2.4b EUR to 3.3b – much of that might be attributable to the explosive Latin American market expansion with SS working steadily to help clients capture the nascent lucrative market.
Looking at the phenomenal growth of fiat betting as well as revenues compared to less-than-stellar crypto performance we see BTC and ETH moved in different directions. Bitcoin’s slice of the total crypto pie lost 7.4% percentage points over the year while Ethereum gained in popularity among players by 3.7%.

Chief Operating Officer at SOFTSWISS, Vitali Matsukevich commented: “The fact that we see an increasing number of new fiat projects does not diminish the power of the already established worldwide community of crypto players. There is still a strong drive for iGaming operators to implement and expand payment methods supporting digital coins. iGaming tech providers will still be focused on developing new crypto-centric tools. For example, we’ve launched the In-Game Currency Conversion feature allowing the crypto audience to enjoy all available games through automatic conversion of digital coin bets into fiat wagers.”

Fiat bets accounted for 76% of all bets on the platform by the end of 2022.

The top three digital currencies used along with their share of the total were

Bitcoin – 72.7%
Ethereum – 13.6%
Litecoin – 5.5%

DOGE picked up in popularity as did LTC while USDT nearly doubled its share from 1.7% of all crypto bets to 3.7%. Bitcoin Cash fell off the top six list and was replaced by XRP at an inaugural .7% share.

CEO Matsukevich expressed optimism for 2023 and asserted that players will not abandon crypto thanks to its decentralized nature, transaction speed, and anonymity.

He added: “Despite all digital coin fluctuations, crypto has already gained a significant share among players and operators and has become an integral part of the market. For this reason, SOFTSWISS continues to strengthen its partners’ projects, whether fiat or crypto, with new innovative tools and solutions, providing operators with security, reliability, and top-level service.”

Source: SOFTSWISS, an invitation to view the report, February 23, 2023

The post SOFTSWISS Recaps the State of Digital Coins in iGaming appeared first on Casino News Daily.

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Soccer franchise slips up

English soccer franchise Norwich City Football Club is facing criticism after it emailed a promotional gambling offer to its fans, including a recovering gambling addict.

offering bonuses to bettors who signed up for a Spreadex Sports account

On Friday, the BBC reported that it had seen the emails offering bonuses to bettors who signed up for a Spreadex Sports account and placed a minimum bet. The Norwich fan in recovery from gambling addiction who received the promotional email shared it with James Grimes, a member of charity group The Big Step.

Grimes and The Big Step are seeking an end to all gambling advertising and sponsorship in soccer. He expressed disappointment in the franchise’s slip up after gaining credibility last year for its decision to drop gambling sponsor, Asia-facing gambling brand BK8, from its shirts.

Brand reputation disaster

Norwich, currently ninth in the English Championship, has often branded itself as a ‘family club.’ Perhaps as a result, it made the decision to ditch BK8 after it came under fire for the deal last year. Critics noted provocative marketing material utilized by the Asian gambling brand which didn’t seem to align with the club’s values.

The club has failed to comment

Now, this latest promotional email debacle has brought Norwich’s family-oriented reputation into question once more. The club has failed to comment on the matter.

Grimes praised Norwich for ditching BK8 but deemed the promotional email “inexcusable.” He argued that Norwich shouldn’t entice people “whose lives have been destroyed by gambling” to return to the habit. Grimes admonished Norwich for the gambling promotion, stating: “That’s not what a good, family, community football club […] should be doing.”

Badly timed

Norwich’s email issue couldn’t have come at a worse time, with the UK government’s white paper on gambling reform due out in a few weeks. While the new gambling reforms are allegedly not as draconian as first imagined, the UK government is nevertheless expected to ban all gambling shirt sponsorships for EPL teams.

Industry insiders have long expected the gambling act review to include limits on online casino gambling too. UK Gambling Minister Paul Scully revealed last month that this will include enhanced affordability checks, although MPs plan to rename these ‘financial risk assessments.’

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Star Entertainment Group, one of Australia’s leading gambling and entertainment companies based in Brisbane, has publicly announced that it is collecting AUD$800 million, which is approximately 545 million US dollars, to pay back its debt and will suspend dividend payments.

The debt arose as the company posted a record statutory net loss for the first half of the year ended December 31 of AUD$1.26 billion, compared with a loss of AUD$74.2 million a year earlier.

Capital raising as a reason for statutory loss:

This loss was due to difficult business conditions in Sydney.

In this regard, company officials said: ” The half-year financial results included a $1.3 billion in what we would describe as one-off costs, like the expected changes to taxes, $350 million in fines and the expense of ongoing reviews and new systems to fix problems. 

“The poor performance is reflective of increasingly restrictive operational requirements and amendments to the state’s Casino Control Act.”

However, that “one-off” cost could tend to be higher, because the official sale of two properties is counted against it.

What’s more, limitations by Australian regulators on the company’s Sydney subsidiaries since mid-September and tough competition from larger rival Crown Resorts, which opened there in August, have squeezed revenues for Star, currently Australia’s second-largest casino operator, by 14% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Commenting on this, company officials said: “The capital raising, comprising a A$685 million 3-for-5 rights offer and a A$115 million institutional placement, will help Star repay debt and increase liquidity.”

The firm, however, reported AUD$43.6 million in normalized net profit after tax, compared with losses of AUD$73.7 million a year ago.

Sale of shares as part of capital raising:

Star will also sell shares to collect money for debt, which is one of the main reasons for the loss of income. They are currently priced at AUD$1.20 per share, 21% beneath Star’s most recent closing price of AUD$1.52.

Commenting on the share sale, company officials said: “Major shareholders Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium (0035. HK) have taken up their rights entitlements and committed $80 million to the capital raising.”

The company also flagged the courtesy of its Sydney casino in the first half, with AUD$851 million to zero.

Regarding the suspension of dividends, company officials said: “We will suspend the payment of dividends while we try to reduce the company’s debt and ensure that the casino licences remain in full operation.”

The company’s shares were stopped on Thursday while the capital raising is underway.

Many lawsuits by regulators: 

Star Entertainment was previously warned of up to AUD$1.6 billion in damages in the first half due New South Wales government’s proposal to increase taxes on casino poker machine operators. Its license there was suspended and the company had to pay a fine of $100M. However, despite this, it managed to keep its gambling venue open until it decided on a new manager to supervise its gambling operations.

“Tax resolution with New South Wales government remains the key catalyst for investors,” according to Jefferies analysts.

Regarding the NSW-Star Entertainment case, Star officials said: “We are urgently working on regaining suitability to hold casino licences in NSW and Queensland, after reviews into money laundering, fraud and criminal activity.”

As for the fines in Queensland, over the past year the company had to pay a $100 million fine and was granted an additional year to show why its casino license should remain with the company.

However, according to the Financial Statement “Star Sydney has lost almost $1 billion as a result of regulatory changes and fines.

“The Sydney property is in a state of significant uncertainty. Recent regulatory changes have increased compliance costs and the Group has paused international and domestic rebate business.

“Further, proposed increases to casino duty rates could materially alter the profitability of the business. In combination, these factors have reduced the valuation of the Sydney cash generating unit, requiring an impairment of $988.4 million to be recognized at 31 December 2022.”

But new fines are coming as the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (AUSTRAC) brought charges against Star for alleged violations of anti-money laundering laws, meaning the company’s loss could be in the billions in the future.

In this regard, Robbie Cooke, a managing director of Star Entertainment Group, said: “The group was transforming its culture and business.”

Increase in domestic revenue for some Star affiliates:

Still, the company’s subsidiaries Star Gold Coast and Treasury Brisbane grew domestic revenue by 30% and 9% respectively.

A troublesome period

The former chief executive of Mansion Group has been hit with a £5m ($6m) global assets freeze order. Gibraltar Courts Service Chief Justice Anthony Dudley issued the order to Karel Christian Mañasco, on Tuesday.

claiming that Mañasco had breached his duties

The first sign of trouble came in September 2021 when Mansion suspended Mañasco at the beginning of an internal investigation into his actions. Mañasco stepped down as CEO in December 2021. Mansion then filed a claim in the Gibraltar courts in 2022 seeking damages, claiming that Mañasco had breached his duties.

Some of the startling specifics

The claim detailed some of Mansion’s grievances, including paying bonuses to himself of £288,111 ($346,154) and £427,500 ($513,625) in 2019 and 2020. He took £66,237 ($79,581) of personal allowance payments to which he wasn’t actually entitled.

There were also over €2.5m ($2.65m) in payments made to a Marshall Islands-incorporated company called White Wizard Media. Mansion, though, did not receive any known services from this company. Mañasco also allegedly failed to adhere to measures the Gibraltar gambling regulator had outlined, which led to the company receiving an £850,000 ($1m) fine.

have Mansion buy expensive cars and luxury watches for no particular reason

Mañasco even went so far as to have Mansion buy expensive cars and luxury watches for no particular reason. Other allegations related to significant sums he spent on corporate credit card payments, rent, legal fees, and even £14,756 ($17,729) for a domain name that was of no use to Mansion.

Fighting the allegations

Despite the extensive claims outlined by Mansion, Mañasco completely denied all of the allegations. He explained that as the CEO, he had the ability to order and oversee each of the transactions that were described by his former employer. He maintains that he always acted in the business’s best interests.

Mansion has recently closed some of its brands across the world, including all of its sites in the UK market.

Ultimately, the judge sided with Mansion, leading to the £5m asset freeze on Mañasco. When handing down his judgment, Judge Dudley described Mañasco’s actions as dishonest and of low standards of morality. He also said that an asset freeze is the “court’s nuclear weapon,” but that it was just in this particular case. Mañasco plans to contest the ruling.

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For a long time, Las Vegas was known as an adult’s getaway. After all, a city doesn’t earn the nickname Sin City for nothing.

An adult’s playground it may be, but you’re just as likely to see a family walking down the Strip as you are a bachelor party.

Since the coronavirus pandemic Las Vegas has become very family friendly.

A recent survey by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) revealed that while only 5% of visitors brought their children with them to Vegas in 2019, a whopping 21% did in 2021.

If you are among those planning a trip to Las Vegas with kids, rest assured there are a lot of fun things to do.

Below we have listed our 10 favorites, five of which are completely free!

5 FREE Things To Do In Las Vegas

Watch the acts at The Midway, Circus Circus 

Many visit The Midway at Circus Circus to play some of the over 200 arcade games on offer.

But instead of paying to play, why don’t you enter the world’s largest permanent circus for free and watch some amazing shows?

Sitting in the center of The Midway is the Circus Stage which hosts performances from a number of acts including high flying trapeze artists, clowns, and much more. 

During the weekends, new acts come onto the stage every half hour and every single act is free to watch no matter the time or day. 

Acts start at 1:30p.m. Monday – Thursday and 11:30 a.m. Friday – Sunday.

Hershey’s Chocolate World

If any of you has a sweet tooth, then Hershey’s Chocolate World in the New York-New York Hotel and Casino is a must-visit destination.

Here, guests can customize their own chocolate bars, shop for some quirky chocolate gifts, and even star in their very own Reese’s peanut butter cup TV ad!

The store also stocks some exclusive chocolate flavors for those with adventurous tastes. 

If you don’t fancy eating chocolate, wandering around is still going to take your breath away as you’ll be able to feast your eyes upon an 800-lb chocolate carving of the Statue of Liberty. 

Fountains of Bellagio

One of the most famous sights in Las Vegas, the fountains outside the Bellagio Resort and Casino are an iconic attraction.

Watching the fountains dance in time to music is an awe-inspiring sight that the whole family is bound to love. 

In the evening, the show becomes even more dramatic with bright lights illuminating the beautiful jets of water.

Performances start from 3pm Monday – Friday and midday on Saturday and Sunday; the details of the shows can be found on their schedule.

The Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian Resort 

Las Vegas can get very hot. Luckily there are plenty of fun ways for everyone to cool down.

One of the best ways is to step inside The Venetian, as a short walk through the resort will lead you all the way to Venice!

A shopping mall with a difference, Grand Canal Shoppes is styled like Venice with a canal running down its middle.

Children are sure to love the iconic scenery and the sound of singing gondoliers as they travel down the canal. 

The shops are fantastic and there are plenty of restaurants nearby if anyone gets hungry. 

Watch the Mirage volcano erupt (while it’s still here!)

They say nothing lasts forever, and in Las Vegas this is doubly true. 

When it was announced that a guitar shaped tower block was going to take the place of the Mirage’s volcano there was an outcry.

Fortunately, Hard Rock Resorts have agreed for the volcano to stay open into 2023. 

At the moment, it erupts on the hour every hour from 7pm – 11pm every night.

Watch as fire and lava burst into the night sky, accompanied with a suspenseful soundtrack to complete the experience.

5 Ticketed Things To Do In Las Vegas

Discovery Children’s Museum

A great destination for families with young children, the Discovery Children’s Museum is a brilliant hands-on, interactive experience.

Kids can play on a life-size pirate ship in the Fantasy Festival area or put their scientific skills to the test in Patent Pending. 

Thanks to the Discovery Children’s Museum’s huge size, every child is bound to find something they love. There is even a special toddler section for the young ones!

Cost: Nevada residents $13:50; General admission $15.50; Children under 1 go free.

The Tank at Golden Nugget Hotel

Most Las Vegas hotels have their own pool, so why pay to visit one? The answer to that is simple, The Tank at the Golden Nugget Hotel is unlike any other pool in Las Vegas. 

Children will love it because of the signature 30ft slide which goes through the middle of a 200,000-gallon aquarium. An amazing experience that no one could ever forget. 

The pools themselves are clean and spacious and you can even peer into the aquarium while you swim.

For adults, The Tank offers a chance to relax and unwind away from the chaos of the city. 

In our mind, that’s money well spent. 

Cost: Free for Golden Nugget guests; Free for Las Vegas locals on select days; $15 per person for the day.

Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay

If The Tank doesn’t hold enough sea life for you then your only option is to visit the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay.

This beautiful aquarium is home to over 2,000 animals including giant rays and sea turtles.

Staff are extremely knowledgeable and will be able to answer any questions about the animals that you may have. Extra special experiences, like feeding stingrays or sharks, can also be purchased.

Cost: (Pre-booked tickets) Adults $29.00; Children aged 5-12 $24.00; Children 4 and under go free.

Circus Circus Adventuredome

While some attractions like the Circus Circus pool are a little dated, the iconic hotel and casino still has many features that visitors rave about. Among these is the Adventuredome.

Inside you’ll find adrenaline pumping rides like Chaos and Slingshot as well as classic attractions like bumper cars.

Kids must be over 48 inches tall to go on some of the rides, although experiences like the laser challenge and virtual reality rooms don’t have this height limit. 

While free to enter, tickets or wristbands must be bought for rides. As adults often have to accompany children, it can get quite expensive. 

Cost: Regular All-day ride pass (48 inches and taller): $60.00; Junior All-day ride pass (33 inches – 48 inches): $30.00

Tournament of Kings 

Since making its debut way back in 1990, Tournament of Kings – a show and dinner at The Excalibur – has become a Las Vegas favorite.

During the 90-minute show you can expect to see knights jousting and fighting while wizards cast frightful spells.

With 30 actors and nearly as many horses, the show is one of the most impressive in Las Vegas.

Adults as well as children will enjoy cheering for their king while a meal of Cornish Game hen and potatoes – that must be eaten without cutlery – only adds to the fun. 

Cost: Tickets around $70

Lead image: Lyle Hastie/Unsplash