Gaming Report: MPL’s #CheckmateCovid Raises ₹15 Lakhs, iPoker to Add 9 New Sites on its Network & More

The much-hyped #CheckmateCovid Chess Tournament on Mobile Premier League (MPL) turned out to be a roaring success. A collaborative effort between the Karnataka Government, MPL, and United Karnataka Chess Association, the tournament witnessed a massive 19,245 players participating over two days. While a total of ₹10 Lakhs were distributed as cash prizes, GM Ankit Rajpura pocketed the ₹1 Lakh top prize. The remaining proceeds, amounting to ₹15 Lakhs, were donated to the Karnataka CM COVID Relief Fund.

With Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) readying to shutdown on May 19, at least nine poker skins are expected to switch over to the iPoker Network. While Russia’s Red Star Poker had confirmed the same last November, others expected to follow suit include Betsson Group’s Betsson Poker, betsafe, and NordicBet. Grosvenor Poker is another major operator that has confirmed its plans of migrating to the iPoker Network.

Denmark’s gambling regulator Spillemyndigheden has blacklisted and blocked 16 illegal gambling sites following the court’s approval for the same.

Rounding up the other gaming stories is news of Hong Kong police busting a gang of 17 people who were involved in abetting illegal casino gambling. The group allegedly profited HK$133 Million ($17.2 Million) from these activities in under 14 months.

Over in Argentina, two land-based operators who also own floating casinos have opposed the government’s move to permit licensed online gambling.

MPL’s #CheckmateCovid Raises ₹15 Lakhs For COVID Relief

The Karnataka government, in collaboration with Bengaluru-based esports portal Mobile Premier League (MPL) and the United Karnataka Chess Association, hosted a charity Chess tournament on the MPL platform on May 2 & 3. The competition called ‘Checkmate COVID’ was to reward a total of ₹10 Lakhs in cash prizes, with the remaining proceeds to be donated to the Karnataka CM COVID Relief Fund. The tournament turned out to be a resounding success, and was able to raise ₹15 Lakhs for the noble cause!

The tournament attracted a massive 19,245 players and conducted a total of 2.37 Lakhs chess games. The matches were played in the Speed Chess format, with each player getting three minutes in the game. Winners were decided based on maximum games won over two days.

In the end, it was GM Ankit Rajpura, who walked away with the top honors and the first-place prize of ₹1 Lakh. On the other hand, GM Bhakti Kulkarni was adjudged the top-ranked female player while Shakuntala Devi was declared the best 60-plus player. Both of them were awarded ₹25,000 each.

Talking on the success of the tournament, Karnataka Sports Minister CT Ravi said, “I thank all the players who participated and contributed to the CheckmateCovid Chess Tournament. We are glad to have collected a large amount for the CM’s COVID Relief Fund. We must continue to come together and fight this crisis.”

iPoker to Onboard 9 New Online Poker Rooms

As the Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) prepares for its planned shutdown on May 19, at least nine online poker rooms that were part of the network will be moving to iPoker. Of them, the Russia-based Red Star Poker had announced its plans to move to iPoker last November. While OlyBet has surprisingly moved to GGPoker Network recently, larger skins like Betsson Group’s Betsson Poker, betsafe, and NordicBet are also likely to move to iPoker. According to reports, Coolbet, GiG, Paf, and PCF Poker are the other operators planning to switch over to the iPoker Network.

While an official announcement by some of these skins is still awaited, Grosvenor Poker became the latest online poker room to confirm its plans for moving to the iPoker Network.

On Thursday, Grosvenor informed its players of the intended move. An official statement by the brand read, “We are excited to announce that we will be joining the iPoker Network on the 19th May and look forward to utilising their greatly improved poker platform.”

Denmark Blocks 16 Illegal Gambling Websites

Continuing its missive against illegal gambling, Denmark’s gambling regulator Spillemyndigheden recently blacklisted 16 such illicit sites.

Spillemyndigheden got the approval and the court order for blocking these sites, and now, the Danish internet service providers have been enforced with the blacklist orders. Once blacklisted, the websites won’t be accessible from any Danish IP address. However, no fines have been announced so far.

The 16 sites include two sports betting sites, seven online casinos, and seven esports betting domains. Some of them include 14red.com, Casino-napoli.com, ph.casino, cozyno.com, lordofthespins.com, magikslots.com, Skinhub.com, and rustbetting.com.

The authorities have also confirmed that at first, 17 domains were identified, but one of them stopped operations before the case was presented. Hence, the other 16 sites were blocked.

Director of Spillemyndigheden, Morten Niels Jakobsen, stated, “We work to protect players against illegal gambling, and we also need to ensure that the operators who are licenced to offer gambling in Denmark can run their businesses under orderly conditions. That is why it is very important for us to clamp down on gambling offered without a licence.”

“Spillemyndigheden is particularly concerned with skin betting, as this type of game especially attracts young people under 18, who, via video games, may be exposed to elements from gambling.” he added.

Since 2012, Spillemyndigheden has taken action against 90 such entities, and the recent strike was the sixth time that the authority went to the court to have illegal sites blocked. Numerous online poker, sports betting, and casino sites were fined or have been blacklisted to date. Before the end of this year, Spillemyndigheden also plans to publish a study on young people’s relation to gambling.

Hong Kong Police Bust Gambling Syndicate

Earlier this week, Hong Kong police busted a gambling syndicate of 17 people that included eight women. The gang was allowing locals to play online casino games like baccarat, slots, poker, blackjack and dice games on a foreign gambling site. They had reportedly profited HK$133 million (US$17.2 million) in just 14 months of operations. The group allegedly earned from local punters who were made to play a variety of casino games like roulette, baccarat, dice, and blackjack on a foreign gambling website.

Giving more details, the acting superintendent of the Narcotics Bureau’s financial investigation unit, Chow Cheng-yau, said that investigations were conducted as part of the operation code-named ‘Deepskill.’ The unit has frozen HK$4.5 million in bank accounts controlled by members of the syndicate. Their mobile phones, laptops, and bank cards were also seized as evidence.

The syndicate followed the modus operandi of recruiting bookies who found gamblers through social media or referrals. The gamblers transferred the money into bank accounts or stored value facilities to buy points from bookmakers, who helped them set up accounts. To avoid detection, the server of the website moved around in North America and Europe. The bookmakers would launder the money through different accounts. Before playing, gamblers were required to pay bookies for game points, which could later be converted back to cash.

The source said an investigation showed the syndicate had attracted thousands of gamblers in the city since it started operations in December 2017.

Buenos Aires Casino Owners Oppose Online Gambling Licensing

Casino operators in Buenos Aires, Argentina have opposed the government’s move to permit licensed online gambling. Owners of two land-based casinos, Manuel Lao and Ricardo Benedicto, have filed an injunction petition against the local regulator Buenos Aires City Lottery (LOTBA), asking the judiciary to stop the bidding process for online gambling licenses.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak in February, the Argentinean government had opened up an application process for those firms interested in offering online gambling in the city, under the 2019 law.

The current law dictates that to avoid monopolistic practices, companies that already hold land-based licenses be barred from participating in the online gambling business.

The operators in their submission to the court said, “The decision to hold an application process to grant supposed online gambling permits to private operators would violate federal legislation that establishes that the regulation of gambling falls within the scope of the City of Buenos Aires”.

Federal Judge Enrique Lavié Pico approved the request filed by the two casino operators earlier this week and has given directions for further study of the case.