Black Hawk

How to play Black Hawk

One of the operator’s most significant challenges is the increase in gambling tax enforced over recent years. Petra has been particularly vocal about this and the company’s profitability has taken a reasonable hit, since the first tax increase to 34.2% of GGR came into effect on 1 January 2025.

Holland Casino now pays 37.8% of GGR to the state, as per the additional increase in 2026, but with labour tax on top the business pays around 52% before they can look at their base running costs. It is not a small burden by any stretch of the imagination, so it is heartening to see the business doing well despite the tightening tax burden.

With such a significant rise in tax, you would forgive the company for cutting wherever possible, but Petra says they have made it work by maximising efficiency, restructuring, and maintaining their offering so the customer doesn’t notice that anything has changed.

How to play Black Hawk

With just over a month since the season started, the condensed but pandemic riddled season has seen some teams play as many as 20 of their scheduled 56 matches, whereas others have had games postponed and played as little as 13. That’s still enough for the pundits to have favorites, and for sportsbooks to have started creating these lines.

At the top of the odds, we have a matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and either the Colorado Avalanche or Las Vegas Golden Knights. Tampa looks like a favorite thanks to their Goal Differential of +20, although they aren’t even top of the Discover Central division at this point, trailing both the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes.

Meanwhile, Colorado and Vegas are both competing to win the Honda West division, but 2019 champions St. Louis also up there in the standings, but with an even goal differential.

What is Black Hawk?

Earlier this year, Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi called illegal betting a “scourge that corrupts society” and emphasised a move towards tougher enforcement.

According to Çiftçi, the rapid growth of digital payments and cryptocurrencies has transformed illegal betting into a major conduit for money laundering. 

“Casinos, junkets, cryptocurrencies and underground banking are the most critical parts of the money laundering infrastructure that fuels international organised crime,” he said at the time. “The global gambling market will reach $205 billion in 2030.”