The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) chairwoman Andrea Domingo has said that the overall gaming revenue for the country in 2017 is likely to witness only a small increase over the previous year.

Domingo said that the gaming regulator will record gross gaming revenue of PHP150 billion ($2.99 billion), revising an earlier estimate and confirming an expected decline. She attributed the cut in expectation to the negative impact caused by the Resorts World Manila attack on June 2 when a lone gunman stormed the casino and caused chaos which resulted in the death of 38 people.

An earlier report in the Nikkei Asia Review had quoted Domingo as stating that Pagcor’s expected GGR for the current year would be in the region of PHP155 billion and PHP160 billion, an increase of 30 percent increase over its official target for 2016. The gaming industry had estimated much higher revenue of PHP149 billion for 2016.

In the immediate aftermath of the Resorts World Manila attack, Domingo has asserted that there would be no adverse impact from it on the country’s gaming industry. Pagcor ordered the closure of the Resorts World Manila property until its investigation into the property’s security arrangements were carried out.

The suspension of operations at Resorts World Manila resulted in the property suffering gaming revenue loss of around PHP60 million per day according to its operator. The casino was allowed to resume normal operations on June 29. Overall casino gross gaming revenue has since recovered with analysts attributing much of the revival to the newer venues – City of Dreams Manila, Solaire Resort and Casino and Okada Manila.

Brokerage firm Maybank ATR Kim Eng Securities Inc stated in a June report that the impact of the attack will be felt by the industry for a period of two to three years affecting both client sentiment and visitations.

Domingo stated that her reduced forecast also includes losses due to the closure of smaller gaming outfits in the country. In December 2016, two casinos owned by Macau-based entrepreneur Jack Lam Yin Lok’s company Jimei Group were closed after it was revealed that operations were being conducted without necessary licenses and employees were working illegal at the casinos. The two casinos closed are the Fontana Casino located at the Fontana Hot Spring Leisure Parks at the Clark Freeport Zone on Luzon, and Fort Ilocandia Hotel and Casino located in Laoag City also in Luzon.

Another reason for the reduced gaming revenue is the slower-than-expected growth in casino operations of the newest integrated casino to open in the country – Okada Manila.

The clock is now ticking until the much anticipated match between Mayweather and McGregor finally becomes a reality.

Not long after this match was announced back in February of this year, pundits across the globe started to give their own opinions on who they thought the likely winner would be.

It will probably not surprise you if you are a fan of the sport that it is of course Mayweather who is attracting the most attentionin the betting markets, and it is true to the say that the volumes of cash that has been placed on him already to win is enormous.

Many Sportsbooks in places such as Las Vegas report the betting volumes on this match have been some of the highest they have seen on any match in recently history, and some have already christened it the “Superbowl” of the boxing calendar!

However, let us not forget that in any boxing match there are always going to be two possible winners, and whether you like his flamboyant manner or not, McGregor may be in with a chance of winning, albeit if you look at the betting markets a very tiny chance of actually winning!

Savvy Boxing Fans Securing the Best Betting Value

If you have been pondering on who will win this match, or if you are already convinced you know how it will end, that how about you putting some of your hard earned cash on the person you think will win?

What you may be interested to learn however is that there are plenty of ways that you are going to be able to lock in plenty of additional betting value if and when you do place your wagers on the Mayweather vs. McGregor match, and with that in mind let us enlighten you as to how you can do just that!

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Firstly, what we would advise you to do is to look around and see just what any online or mobile sports books are giving away to their new customers, by way of bonuses free bets and even no deposit required bets.

Next put together a shortlist of the very best valued promotional offers and then divide you your bankroll in such a way that you can take advantage of as many of those offers and special sign up deals as you can.

By doing so you will then find that even if your bet on the Mayweather vs. McGregor Match isn’t a winning one you may still have bonus credits or free bets available to you as part of the sign up welcome bonuses offered by mobile and online betting sites and Sportsbooks, so it will be something of a cushion for you if your bet does lose!

Just make sure that those sites or betting apps you do sign up to and make use of are licensed and regulated and have a first class reputation, as that way you will not experience any problems if you win and want to cash out your winnings!

Hedging Your Mayweather vs. McGregor Bets

Many fans of boxing are going to be eager to place their bets and wagers on their favourite boxer or the boxer they think is going to win any match long before those matches are scheduled to start, and there are plenty of benefits of doing so, as you may secure some much higher odds when placing such a bet nice and early.

However, what you are going to find is that many Sportsbooks and betting sites will close down there betting markets as is standard when the boxing match starts but will then open an in-play betting market on that match when the match begins.

It may be beneficial for you to monitor those in-play betting markets as if something you didn’t expect to happen during the match happens or the boxer you have bet on isn’t performing as well as you thought he would you will have plenty of additional ways of hedging those bets you placed before the match begun!

You will have to react quickly though if and when you do decide to make us of an in-play betting market as the odds available are always going to be updated in real time and can fluctuating quite wildly as the match is in play!

Popular Mayweather vs. McGregor Bets

The huge volume of wagers currently being placed on Floyd Mayweather means that you are not going to find the most generous of odds available on him winning, and if you think there is no way he can lose this match then consider placing some of the additional wagers that can be placed on him.

One popular type of additional bet you can place on Mayweather is to pick him to win the match but also name the round in which he will win, or name him as the winner and also name the method of victory too.

By placing such a two part bet you will find the odds available are going to be much more generous than an outright win bet on Mayweather. But make sure that you do shop around and make sure any odds you do find are the very highest ones being offered to you!

You can also place a similar range of bets on McGregor winning too and as such if you are not that impressed with his win odds then consider placing one of those to part bets and naming him as the winner instead of Mayweather!

What you may also be interested in doing is taking bets of other sports fans, that is something you can legally now do by signing up to a betting exchange. When you join such a site you can name the type of bets you want to offer to other sports fans and offer odds on those betting opportunities too.

If anyone you have taken bets off wins you do of course need to pay them out their winnings, however if their bets lose then you keep their stake money, less a small commission payable to the betting exchange!

The Japanese government is planning on holding public hearings across nine cities to discuss the regulatory framework under development for the country’s newly-legalized casino industry. The aim of the exercise is address public fears regarding the risks of problem gambling, money laundering and other such social issues arising from the introduction of gambling.

The public consultation phase will run from August 17 to 29 and be held in nine cities which are Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, Sendai, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Takamatsu and Toyama. Though Yokohama, a large urban center located near Tokyo has often been named in media reports as a possible candidate for a casino, it has been omitted from the list.

The bill legalizing gambling was passed in December 2016 but detailed regulations for the new industry will be covered under a second bill the Integrated Resorts (IR) Implementation Bill. According to local media reports, the Japanese government has been working on the regulatory framework to be included in the bill since early 2017.

On May 16, the government is reported to have completed the drafting of a gambling addiction bill, a step that was essential for the passing of the second bill. Banking firm Morgan Stanley stated that the approval of the gambling addiction bill is likely to be a major indicator of how long it will take for the implementation bill to pass. Industry experts believe that if all things go as planned, the IR Implementation Bill could be passed by the country’s legislative houses in the 2017 extraordinary session which begins in autumn.

The Office of Integrated Resort Regime Promotion, a body comprising professional civil servants working as advisors to the government with regard to the development of the implementation bill submitted a report of its recommendations this week.

In its report, the Office of Integrated Resort Regime Promotion also known as the IR Promotion Secretariat included several of the suggestions already mentioned by the Japanese media The panel has suggested an upper limit for the size of gaming floors in the integrated resorts but did not specify the limits. Similarly the report suggests having limits on the number of integrated resorts allowed in the country but didn’t specify the actual number.

With respect to taxation, the recommendation is for the gross gaming tax to be split between the central government and the local municipalities acting as hosts. The panel did not recommend a ban on locals but has suggested an entry fee for them, and a cap on the number of visits allowed. An additional suggestion is that the visits be monitored using Japan’s existing identification system for locals.

The ‘money fight’ between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor on August 26 was scheduled to take place with both fighters wearing 10oz gloves.

Mayweather took to Instagram (shown below) a few days ago to inform McGregor that he was willing to fight in 8 oz gloves in order to give the UFC fighter a better chance of winning.

McGregor uses 4oz gloves when he fights in the Octagon and based on UFC rules those gloves are cut off mid-finger.

McGregor trolled Floyd Mayweather during the four city press conference tour and told fans that Money Mayweather fixed the fight agreement with a number of stipulations on the gloves to try and stack the deck in his favor.

Some of those stipulations to McGregor included the use of 10oz gloves for the fight, not being able to use gloves padded with horse’s hair and no Mexican gloves.

MMA WOOF TICKETS

Mayweather has tried via Instagram to clear that air and inform boxing fans that he is willing to accept the fight in 8 oz gloves to give McGregor the advantage.

However the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has turned down the request and stated that the fight must take place with 10 oz gloves as per state rules.

Fighters who are in the weight class of 135 – 147 can use 8oz gloves provided they are in agreement when signing the contract. Fighters, who are over their weight class, must use 10oz gloves. The Mayweather vs. McGregor bout takes place at 154, a weight that Conor McGregor is comfortable with since he fights in the Octagon at 155. Mayweather on the other hand is used to fighting at a lower weight class.

The NSAC stated that it would not permit the change in the best interest of the fighters as they were committed to protecting the safety and health of the fighters.

It is hard to believe that Mayweather would not have known of the weight class vs. glove size stipulation in Nevada. If that be the case, then Mayweather would have known that there was no way that the NSAC would have approved the request to fight in 8oz gloves and the Instagram post could have been just for publicity sake.

Whatever be the reason, one thing is clear is that the McGregor’s comments and mind-games have had an impact on Mayweather as he has responded to those taunts and accusations.

The support for legalizing sports betting in American has grown stronger with the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) announcing that it was joining the American Sports Betting Coalition (ASBC).

The ASBC is a lobby group formed by the American Gaming Association to push through legislation repealing the federal law known as PAPSA (Player and Amateur Sports Protection Act) that currently bars sports betting across United States except in three states NIGA includes over 148 Native American tribes with gaming interests and represents the country’s $31.2 billion tribal gaming industry as a whole.

In a statement Ernie Stevens, Jr., chairman of NIGA said

We are pleased to announce that the National Indian Gaming Association will be joining the AGA’s Coalition on Sports Betting, which will enable us to coordinate with and provide feedback to the AGA with regard to tribal gaming concerns as the Coalition advances its policy objectives

Geoff Freeman president and CEO of AGA applauded the move and stated that it signified the unified position of the industry. He noted that the support of NIGA was crucial to move forward toward revoking the sports ban.

The ASBC now has support across the commercial gaming industry, elected officials, law enforcement authorities and business groups, as it continues with its campaign to enable states to set their own laws for sports betting. The NIGA support comes even as tribal groups in several states have warned that legalizing sports betting could affect the gaming compacts in place with respective state governments.

Steve Stallings, chairman of the California National Indian Gaming Association noted that the association was opposed to a constitution amendment proposal introduced in the state that would allow sports betting to be legalized.He said that it would expand gambling in the state and affect compacts that currently limit casino-format games to tribal reservations.

Stallings indicated that the gaming compacts of all 62 tribes in the state might need to be renegotiated if the state moves towards introducing legal sports betting. Stevens however asserted that the support was in line with the objectives of the group to protect tribal gaming interests. He pointed out that NIGA being actively involved with ASBC would ensure that the tribes will be able to capitalize on the new opportunity. He added that by including sports betting to their offerings, tribal governments will be gaining a new revenue source.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear the case against the PAPSA but no date has been set for the hearing.

Consumer credit in the form of loans, credit cards and overdrafts has hit £200 billion for the first time in the United Kingdom (UK) since the 2008 financial crisis. Data published by the Bank of England (BoE) shows that unsecured consumer credit has grown by 10 percent this year, for THE period up to June reaching it’s highest since December 2008 when it was at just above £200 billion.

UK regulator Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said that it is in the process of initiating a crackdown on the huge costs associated with overdrafts and also a review into the car loans market which has been on an upswing. Credit ratings agency Moody’s also warned earlier this week that the rising household debt in the country was a cause for concern as some borrowers might struggle to make payments due to increasing inflation and overall slowing of the economy.

Policymakers and charities are worried that with households struggling due to the rising cost of living, they might turn towards loans even more to meet their expenses, thereby increasing risks. They have also highlighted that banks were once again adopting an easy credit policy.

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The FCA’s report comes in the aftermath of an announcement by the BoE that it would be reviewing the banks’ books on consumer credit to understand exposure. In a recent report, the FCA noted that one in six people having debt on credit cards, personal lending and car loans were facing financial distress. These were more likely to be younger, unemployed, have children and be less educated than others.

Ruth Gregory, UK economist at consultancy Capital Economics, pointed out that consumer credit was still growing by 10 percent year on year which indicated that households were still comfortable to take loans to meet consumption demands, despite real wages coming under pressure from inflation.

According to research by the consumer group Which? the cost of borrowing £100 using an unauthorized overdraft for 28 days from some banks was close to £90. This cost is almost four times higher than the maximum charges permitted on payday loans.

FCA chief executive, Andrew Bailey said that the costs for the overdraft facility would be rationalized. The regulator earlier implemented a new set of rules aimed at curbing rates charged by payday lenders. The FCA’s restrictions on payday lending has helped according to experts.

Money Advice Trust, the operator of the National Debtline has said that the payday regulations has resulted in lesser loans being issued to those struggling with debt, thereby reducing default. The non-profit welcomed the FCA’s decision to tackle other forms of high-cost credit.