Sugar Skulls

What is Sugar Skulls?

For Japan, the question is whether this broader proposition could make casino resorts more socially and culturally palatable by giving visitors reasons to come, other than gambling.

But for Klebanow, the lesson Japan should take from Macau and Singapore extends beyond the importance of non-gaming attractions. It is also about how regulation should work. Policymakers, he argues, should establish basic legal and commercial guardrails, while giving operators sufficient “latitude” to “propose and develop projects that best serve both the residential and tourism markets”.

He points to Macau’s Cotai Strip and Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa as examples of how regulatory discipline can coexist with considerable freedom for developers to innovate. “At its core, Japan’s policies need to be pragmatic and allow for developments to succeed – not constrain them to the point that they risk failure.”

What is Sugar Skulls?

On Thursday, the UK Gambling Commission reported that two senior figures formerly associated with the Conservative Party had pleaded guilty to offences linked to betting on the 2024 General Election date.

Anthony Lee, who served as the Conservative Party’s director of campaigning, pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating under sections 42(1)(a) and 42(1)(b) of the Gambling Act 2005.

Meanwhile, Laura Lee (formerly Saunders), his wife and former head of international for the party, who also stood as the Conservative candidate in Bristol North-West at the 2024 election, pleaded guilty to one offence under section 42(1)(a).

About Sugar Skulls

“Sometimes what data tells you is uncomfortable because it’s challenging the norm,” he said at the time. “For me [it’s about] where we can make some marginal differences by using player data and challenging the perspectives of what the industry thinks should and does happen.”

The Gambling Commission suspended both licences with immediate effect on 28 August after enquiries revealed suspected social responsibility and AML failings. Reviews are now taking place under section 116 of the Gambling Act 2005. But in the wake of the suspension, the two sites have bowed to the inevitable and shut down completely.

According to the Commission’s licensing registry, Bet St George surrendered its four gambling licences on 4 September. BresBet surrendered its own licences on the same date.