Gossip Column: Galfond Cruising in ‘ActionFreak’ Challenge, Polk Starts Petition to Recall Las Vegas Mayor & More

There can be no denying that Run It Once (RIO) founder Phil Galfond is simply unstoppable at the moment. After his incredible comeback victory against online phenom’ VeniVidi1993,’ the PLO legend has now locked horns with another online pro Ioannis’ Action Freak’ Kontonatsios. And once again, Galfond is at the top of his game. After seven sessions, the latter is ahead by a comfortable €246,512.56.

The recent, rather tone-deaf interview of Mayor Carolyn Goodman had stirred up quite the controversy. The Mayor was criticized by many in the poker community for her controversial opinions regarding the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Retired poker pro Doug Polk has taken his criticism to the next level by starting a petition to recall the Mayor and has already received nearly 100 recall requests.

At a time when most regulators are taking a step back, the UK Gambling Commission seems to have gone on overdrive doling out fines. The Commission recently announced that online gambling technology provider FSB Technology has been charged with failing to make its third-party licensees comply with the terms of fair, safe and crime-free gambling. The FSB has agreed to pay a settlement of £634,300.

Phil Galfond Leads ‘ActionFreak’ by €246,512.56 After 7 Sessions

Three-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Galfond’s heads-up challenge against ‘ActionFreak,’ aka Ioannis Kontonatsios, seems to be going quite well for the former. After 4,078 hands played across seven sessions, Galfond is commanding a lead of €246,512.56 against the online pro.

The challenge had started off with ‘Action Freak,’ taking the early lead in the first session that was plagued with technical difficulties. Nevertheless, Galfond bounced back, winning three sessions back-to-back. The fifth and sixth session saw the challenger fighting back. But it was a short-lived fight as Galfond turned the tables in his favor in the very next session. During the seventh session, Galfond won a few pots around €25K before they called it a day, and was estimated to be up by around €20K.

On a separate note, Dan’ Jungleman’ Cates has finally posted his video on why Galfond is a better player, as per the terms of their ‘mini challenge’ that Cates lost on May 6.

Made a declaration to Mr Falcons aka @PhilGalfond on my instagram https://t.co/OGtnbtSFWS , This match is not the end of it falcons!

— Daniel Cates (@junglemandan) May 7, 2020

Retired Poker Pro Doug Polk Starts Petition to Recall Las Vegas Mayor

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman is facing a recall effort in the wake of her response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the controversial comments she recently made on national television. Former professional poker player Doug Polk filed a notice of intent to circulate a recall petition with the city clerk’s office on May 6.

The former WSOP bracelet winner made the first of a two-step process to initiate a recall election, as he explained in a YouTube video that he published on his channel Thursday morning.

For the next step, Polk has 90 days to submit a petition with 25 percent of the voters from the 2019 election, which he said is about 6,745 people.

On Thursday, he tweeted that he had received recall requests from almost a hundred people to sign the petition.

“I have put together a full launch plan to make this happen, and I am going to be working on this full time,” he said.

Last night (Thanks to some local news stations) we have already had almost a hundred people request recall kits to sign the petition!

If you want to help, you can find more information on how to do so at https://t.co/Q02hxnFRWp

Together Las Vegas, we can #RecallCarolynGoodman!

— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) May 7, 2020

If enough valid signatures are collected before the August 4 cutoff date, it will trigger a mayoral recall election, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Goodman responded to the recall effort, claiming its Polk’s choice as an American to undertake the task.

Regarding recall effort: This is America. That’s his choice

— Carolyn G. Goodman (@mayoroflasvegas) May 7, 2020

Polk wrote back to Goodman’s tweet, “Thanks for the support mayor!”

Polk said he doesn’t only want to recall the Mayor for wanting to “reopen Las Vegas,” but also for placing casino owners’ interests above the people of the city.

I dont want to recall the mayor just because she wants to re-open Las Vegas.

She also cares more about the “sensitive” casino owners interests than the people of Las Vegas. Additionally, she was unable to maintain a conversation with functional sentences. https://t.co/6e6N39wyUg

— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) May 7, 2020

FSB Technology Agrees to £634,300 Settlement With the Gambling Commission

On May 6, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced that online gambling technology provider FSB Technology had agreed to pay £634,300 to atone for “advertising, money laundering, and social responsibility failings” on behalf of three of FSB’s third-party licensees. The UKGC didn’t disclose the names of the third-party licenses “for legal reasons.”

The issue had first cropped up in August 2019, when the Gambling Commission had announced that it had instigated a review into the operations of FSB Technology, under S116 of the Gambling Act. The practice to contract provisions of licensed activities to third parties, white labels, does not exclude the licensee from responsibility regarding the behavior of the third parties in terms of fair, safe, and crime-free gambling.

The review into the FSB’s practice came up with significant failings regarding anti-money laundering, marketing, and social responsibility processes, with the license holder lacking sufficient oversight into the activities of its white label partners.

The Commission also found out there had been no effective anti-money laundering and social responsibility policies and procedures followed for the period between January 2017 and August 2019.

Following an investigation into FSB Technology’s third-party activities, the UKGC found many operational oversights. Money laundering, advertising, and social responsibility failings were all cited as reasons for the fine.

Following the investigation, UKGC executive director Richard Watson said, “All operators should pay close attention to this case as it shows that we hold all licensees fully responsible for third party relationships – and we will act against any of our licensees that do not manage third parties appropriately. These were blatant breaches of rules we have put in place to ensure gambling is fair, safe, and crime-free.”

The UK Gambling Commission has been relentless in the pursuit of its objectives, collecting a total of £58.9 Million in financial sanctions and voluntary settlements between June 2014 and December 2019.