WPT Global (WPTG) President Alex Scott said his company has the US “very much on our radar” but cautioned that there would no immediate launch state-side.

Scott told that WPTG was obviously thinking about entry into the United States, though its first step into a regulated market would be somewhere with international liquidity.

“The US is the home of poker,” Scott said. “There is no market like the US when it comes to poker. People grow up playing it. It’s really part of the national culture.”

“Really, if you want to maximize the value of anything poker, the US has to play a part in that,” he added. “Yes, obviously, we want to be in the US in the future.”

However, he said the company is looking at several months of work — involving software development, real-time integration, and organizational changes, among other things — before entering any regulated markets, and closed ones like the US will not be top priority.

“It’s a slow process,” Scott said. “There’s an enormous amount of work required to enter all of the regulated markets that are out there. We definitely aspire to be in as many of those regulated markets as we can, but we also know it’s going to be a very difficult challenge.”

A few months ago, Shaun Deeb Flag of the United States made headlines in the poker world for his bet against Bill Perkins Flag of the United States. It consisted of lowering his body fat to 17% and although the prop bet did not come to an end, Deeb took home US$800K and the entire scene was surprised to see the noticeable change in his physique.

Apparently, Deeb's achievement in his bet against Perkins has motivated him to encourage other people to do something similar. The change in him was very noticeable and everyone claims to see him much better after having lost almost 40 kilos. Perhaps this marks the beginning of an equally favorable change in Kuhn's life.

Now, Deeb is on the other side of this story and bet Robert Kuhn Flag of the United States that he must go 30 days without eating anything, only drinking water, coffee and vitamins. The bet would be with odds of 20:1. If Kuhn loses, he pays US$3,000 to Deeb, while if he meets the challenge, Deeb must pay him US$60,000.

Deeb established certain rules that Kuhn must follow in order to win:

- Kuhn cannot consume anything other than water or coffee for 30 days.

- Kuhn can drink coffee after two hours of waking up.

- Kuhn can consume electrolytes, salts, and vitamins.

Kuhn agreed to accept these conditions, but he first plans to consult with a medical team to make sure he is not putting his health at risk. He has already had blood tests and will be under medical follow-up throughout the process.

Poker players in Canada have been starved for live tournament action for far too long until WSOP and GGPoker announced the launch of the first-ever WSOPC Toronto this March. Starting on March 22, WSOPC Toronto will be played at the Great Canadian Resort and will feature eight WSOPC ring events with buyins ranging from $250 to $3,500. The festival will run until April 1 and will include No Limit Hold’em events only.

With just over a week left before WSOP Toronto 2024 kicks-off, WSOP Ontario and GGPoker are offering a variety of satellite options to win your way into the Main Event at just a fraction of the price.

The game's new poker boom in recent years has included media efforts aimed at a younger generation of players, including Twitch streaming and YouTube vlogging. The online gaming platform Steam, as well as other gaming options, have now seen a poker-related game attracting some attention.

The Balatro game features poker-like gameplay using wild cards to build a hand and sold over 250,000 copies in the first three days of its release across all platforms; and now the score its 500,000 in 10days.

The game receives good reviews The game is available for PC, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox, and earned a Metacritic score of 89. The game puts a bit of a twist on poker, but also includes some more traditional game terms and actions. Balatro offers the opportunity to introduce poker to players and has gotten some positive reviews so far.

How is the game.

“Each hand has its own amount of chips and associated multiplier bonuses, and the goal of Balatro is to get closer to victory by making the most of the cards you are dealt. While some blinds are small, reaching only 300 or 450 at the start of a match, they quickly begin to grow into the tens of thousands as each successfully defeated boss increases the blinds and accompanying bets. Get to an ante of eight and, bingo, you've won a Balatro streak.

As more states add casino gaming and sports betting, some of the more-established markets are feeling the pinch, including the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Despite the American Gaming Association (AGA) recently reporting the commercial gaming industry growing 10% to record revenue of $66.5 million in 2023, Mississippi went the other way, experiencing a drop of 3%.

This marked the second-straight year of falling revenue for the state’s Gulf Coast casinos as well as casinos across the state, according to the AGA. Increased competition in the northeast has also led to a similar economic impact in New Jersey.

Mississippi Numbers Falling

The Mississippi Gulf Coast has long been a popular spot for gamblers in the south, treating guests to an beach vacation and plenty of casino gambling. There are about a dozen casinos located in Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay St. Louis.

The region even featured a nice poker scene with early World Poker Tour events held in Mississippi and the WSOP Circuit still regularly heading to the state.

As more states like Arkansas have launched casino gambling and sports betting, Gulf Coast casinos are now facing increased competition. That trend continued in January, with coastal casinos seeing a drop of $8.5 million compared to the same month in 2023. That carried over statewide with a decline of $21.7 million.

Casino operators have noticed the loss in business, the Clarion Ledger newspaper reports, especially to casinos in Louisiana after that state launched live and online sports betting in January 2022.

Mississippi legislators are now considering legal online betting. However, more competition looms as Alabama is also now considering casino gaming expansion and legalized sports betting.

Atlantic City Also Experiencing Increased Competition

New Jersey’s nine casinos in Atlantic City are also feeling the pressure from nearby competition. Gamblers can now take their pick of casinos located across the region including Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and more.

“I think Atlantic City is similar to a lot of other markets across the country that are being impacted by cross border and regional competition,” AGA Vice President of Research David Forman said. “New Jersey is now entirely surrounded by states with a fair amount of gambling and a fair amount of gambling options that have expanded over the past few years.”

The Garden State has also offered online gaming for over a decade, but now Maryland and New York are also considering legalization.