While Macau welcomed more visitors in 2017, not all were happy about their experience in Asia’s premier gambling hub. 

Data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) revealed that total visitation improved 5.4% to 32.6m in 2017. However, visitors’ satisfaction in various sectors of Macau’s hospitality industry suffered slips: 4.2 points with hotel services and facilities; 14.64 points with travel agencies; and 10.3 points with gaming facilities. Macau Responsible Gaming Association President Song Wai Kit attributed the declines to understaffed local companies and poor transportation infrastructure, particularly in the casino-heavy Cotai region. 

CalvinAyre.com’s Rafi Farber weighed in on the controversies surrounding the Point of Consumption Tax in Australia. 

With so many failed Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), CoinGeek.com’s Gerald Fenech dissects if it is still viable to invest in these schemes. 

The state-owned People’s Daily lamented that the rural gamblers do what they do due to the “lack of rural cultural and entertainment venues, spiritual emptiness and monotonous cultural life.”

The casino operator declared that a drop in its operating profit and lower VIP win rate dragged its net profit in the last three months of 2017. 

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat took the cudgels for the embattled Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), saying that the MGA “strengthened the office for the verification of online gaming operators.” 

The deal between CBS and Turner with NCAA might crumble due to an ongoing FBI investigation into college basketball corruption.

Attribution—refers to the process of identifying which affiliates are driving conversions to the site.

Congratulations to Sean Hurley for being appointed as the new “Head of Sportsbook” at DraftKings! Before joining the company, Hurley was the head of commercial for UK B2B sports betting technology supplier Amelco and was with boutique online sportsbook and casino provider Whale Global.

CoinGeek.com marked the opening of the registration for the most anticipated conference with the release of its final lineup of speakers. The event, which will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong on May 18, 2018, will feature Bitcoin Cash (BCH) advocates and cryptocurrency experts like Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu, Roger Ver, Dr Craig Wright, Expedia’s Michael Wood and SBI Crypto’s Chief Strategy Officer Jerry David Chan. A special 50% discount awaits those who will pay for their registration fee in BCH. More details can be found here.