Comment on Entain chief warns UK government not to risk jobs with tax raid

CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch has stepped down with company shares sinking 19% this year and the health care giant struggling on several fronts. Company shares tumbled early Friday after CVS Health also said its third-quarter earnings will come in well below Wall Street expectations. Lynch will be replaced by CVS executive David Joyner, who will attempt to steer the company through rising costs to its health insurance business, slumping drugstore sales and growing investor pressure.

A fresh national poll conducted by Fox News has indicated Donald Trump leads Kamala Harris in the U. S. Presidential race with a lead of around 2%.  As the 45th POTUS and the incumbent Vice-President face off for control of the White House for the next term, the final stretch beckons ahead of the election on Tuesday 5 November.  The Fox survey represents Trump’s best position since Harris was named as the Democrat nominee, after President Joe Biden withdrew from the contest, reversing the figures from last month when the former California senator had a similar slim lead in the poll.  Fox has suggested Trump’s advantage should be tempered by the figures showing Harris is ahead by six points among the electorate in six of the seven swing states.   Fox News Poll: Trump ahead of Harris by 2 points nationally https://t.co/ROOhefpn72 — Fox News (@FoxNews) October 17, 2024 Overall, the survey reflects the fine margins in the race at this critical time, with both candidates doing their utmost to win over undecided voters at this late stage. Have Polymarket’s odds been compromised? Over on the blockchain-based prediction platform Polymarket, Trump has surged ahead in its election forecast offering.

Elon Musk’s X has updated its terms of service to limit legal disputes to a court in Texas whose judge is well known for favoring conservative outcomes. An update to X’s terms of service which comes into effect on November 15 seeks to restrict any disputes raised against the social media platform to the U.

Gavin Isaacs, the chief executive of Ladbrokes and Coral parent company Entain has reacted with fury following reports suggesting the Labour government is set to hit the sector as part of a drive to raise £3 billion in taxes.  With the sentiment shared across the British gambling industry, he said ministers should be wary of the impact of a “punitive” tax hike on gambling due to the knock-on effect on the wider economy. The head of one of the United Kingdom’s leading betting firms said such a move would jeopardize thousands of jobs and strike a direct blow to horseracing and funding for other sports, including sponsorships.  In July this year, Isaacs was confirmed as the replacement for the outgoing Jette Nygaard-Andersen who was mired in a long-running bribery scandal that hampered the company, contributing to a downward spiral that resulted in significant losses of hundreds of millions for Entain.  After taking up the chief executive position at the top table last month, he said of the potential increased liabilities: “We’d ask ministers to be mindful that further punitive tax increases would have a material detrimental impact on the economic contribution of the gambling industry, put thousands of jobs at risk, reduce funding for horseracing and other sports, as well as benefiting the black market.”  The Guardian reported on Friday 11 October that UK Treasury officials were considering elaborate proposals from two “influential” think tanks to raise up to £3b in taxes from the gambling industry as part of a push to shore up a black hole in public finances. This would include doubling the existing levies placed on some bookmakers operators and casinos.  A paper from the Social Market Foundation (SMF) would see online gaming taxes spike by £900m, while a separate proposal from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) would raise an array of duties placed on the sector by nearly £3bn. While the response from the gambling lobby isn’t a surprise, the government’s position will be cognizant of the harm caused by problem gambling and a desire to address the issue. Online casino style gambling has surged in recent years.

After five days of testimony and two hours of deliberation, a jury awarded $4.5 million to a restaurant employee who sued an acclaimed chef in Chicago. Cody Nason, a former service captain at the closed Acadia restaurant in the South Loop neighborhood, won a unanimous verdict Sept. 20 against Ryan McCaskey, chef and owner of the fallen Michelin-starred establishment. Nason sued McCaskey for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and tortious interference with a contract.

A newly remodeled Chuck E. Cheese restaurant opened this week in Gage Park on Chicago’s Southwest Side, promising all the arcade games, screaming kids and pizza-fueled mayhem that parents have come to know and endure. The missing ingredient? The iconic animatronic house band, a larger-than-life, rodent-led ensemble that has performed nightly at the family entertainment chain for decades, has finally lost its gig. Once the main attraction, Munch’s Make Believe Band has been phased out at hundreds of Chuck E.