Daily Archives: February 18, 2021

The new transformations that are happening in the modern-day are about technological advancements in the field of gambling. And the first thing is this list is many new faces life Gclub and Sbobet that showed up in the industry after pandemics.

With the cryptocurrencies dominating the world, they will also trend in the gambling world. The casinos have started to accept the different types of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. It is a secure way to play, and people prefer it more. Thus, this could be a much-needed transformation.

With cryptocurrency comes privacy, as the cryptocurrency doesnt demand details and anonymizes the owners. It has led to many people playing and online with using crypto as a matter of payment and various VPNs to cover or protect their identity, as it is safe and anonymous. It can be possible for areas with restricted access or no casinos. Thus, this is a venture for growth.

Everyone has access to a mobile phone nowadays. It has led to the encouragement of free to play games. There are simple ways of how these games can make money. They can pay minimum amounts for playing or upgrades or get perks. And thus, the habits of the consumer are changed.

With people confined to their homes, they want to have a live dealer experience like the land casinos. It gives the players the feel of the real deal when playing from the comfort of their homes. It also helps engage the player and gives the required human interaction and charm that certain games require.

VR is a great way for people who want to enjoy a real-life experience without actually having to do so. The trend is on the rise, and people are in favor of VR based casinos. There are versions of some of the popular gambling games, and there is a huge demand for others.

With the world shifting toward online options, land casinos have seen a decline. Even though their online versions are still benefitting, the land casinos are suffering. People prefer to play online in the comfort of their own homes. They dont have to dress up, and it also saves the time and money spent on a commute to and from the casino. The online versions also provide more privacy than the land versions. Online gaming also can be done from anywhere anytime and not to mention the perks they provide.

The gambling industry now caters to a larger audience with the introduction of upgraded slot machines. The games have become skill-based and reduce the luck factor. The younger generation that is used to play video games and gaming consoles can enjoy this.

There are other transformations like using smartwatches, introducing new table games, etc. these are some of the trends that will help transform the gambling and casino industry scenario in 2021.

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Trends Transforming The Gambling And Casino Industry In 2021 - Business MattersBusiness Matters

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After you get a divorce, everyone tries to set you up. Then you have the already-divorced friends who practically manage your dating profile, and they love it and are your biggest fan.

After almost three years of being a forty-something woman who felt ready to stop beating myself up for my divorce and make a life with someone else, I didnt think Id meet them online. But thats exactly how I met my boyfriend a few years ago, after what seemed like an eternity of dating.

I went on the apps, then ditched them after two weeks feeling like I couldnt stomach the stupid back-and-forth banter another minute.

A few days after another lukewarm date with a man who was vetted by one of my best friends (who failed to tell me hed moved out of his family home less than two months ago and I was his first date), I thought Id try one more time.

After a few days of not even looking to see if I had any matches, I crawled into bed one night after a tough bootcamp class while my kids were with their dad and told myself to stay positive. I saw a face Id never seen before, which was refreshing. When you are on the dating sites for over two years, you see a lot of repeats.

After a few exchanges and finding out he was a Tinder virgin and had only been swiping for a few weeks, I was intrigued. We had a lot in common. He was funny. He led an active lifestyle, but loved fast food as much as I did.

We agreed to meet in a few days, and as soon as I saw him I was completely at ease, yet so attracted to him which doesnt usually go hand in hand for me.

After three hours of chatting and eating appetizers, wed covered it all. Our teenagers, our divorces, our dogs, and the fact hed lost a woman he really loved almost seven years ago because he was gambling a lot and lying to her about it. Those were his words, and the hairs on the back of neck warned me to proceed with caution.

On our second date, I brought it up again. He said he didnt gamble much any more and had it under control. I wanted to believe him I figured he had learned his lesson the hard way but there was a part of me telling me to end this before it got started.

Then, my best friend reminded me this was a 45-year-old man who had a past and should be allowed to make mistakes. What if you miss out on something that could be great because he used to gamble a lot almost a decade ago? Is that fair?

On our third date when he came to pick me up, I saw a Gamblers Anonymous book in his car.

On our fifth date, we were eating outside on a warm summer night and one of his friends came over to talk to us. He introduced me and when he left I said,Did you two work together?

No, he said, I met him at Gamblers Anonymous. He used to get himself into some deep shit, but hes squared away now.

I never saw any signs of gambling or strange behavior in those first few months. I was cautiously falling in love, yet I kept hearing my friends voice.

Is that fair?

One thing I learned about him early on was that he wore his heart on his sleeve, and there were times hed reveal a bit too much. You know, bathroom habits, mentioning to his friends (in front of me) how hot our sex life was.

He doesnt have the best filter, but its one of the things I love about him. He doesnt want to stay all buttoned up.

I noticed he started making bets for his sports teams online, asking me who I thought would win. When he saw I was surprised he still gambled, he said it was under control. Suspicious, I got friendly really fast with one of his friends girlfriends whod known him for almost ten years. Yeah, he had a problem. But he worked really hard to correct it, she assured me.

Then, he became more and more distracted, constantly looking at his phone. Id watch out of the corner of my eye as hed stare at several different sports scores, then refresh the page over and over and over again.

He started to forget things and had trouble sleeping. He was watching sports constantly and I told him that while I didnt mind watching a game here or there, that eight hours of sports and him being so distracted with his goddamn phone wasnt going to work for me.

He stopped.

Just like that, he stopped. That was last fall, and things seemed to calm down. Until these past few months.

Recently, the same things started happening again: the forgetfulness, the distraction, the staying up late to watch a game and not wanting to have sex until the game was over which doesnt work for me either.

I started denying him when he wants to have sex at midnight and told him again that this wasnt how a relationship works. It felt like there was another woman I was competing with. While I like to win, I am not going to try and divert a mans attention from a gambling habit. Ive got other things to do.

He admitted to me last week he was gambling a lot again something I already knew, of course, but I am not going to throw it in his face with a smug No shit. I wanted to give him the space to talk to me.

Its taking me to a place I dont want to go, and I promise you, you will see a change and it wont happen again, he said.

I want to believe him. I want to believe in him. But I know how addiction and compulsive behaviors work.

It wont go away if you dont deal with whats driving you to do this, I told him. Get the help you need because if you dont, even if you dont start gambling again, it might manifest into something else. I love you, but I dont know if I can stay for it. I just dont know.

You can love someone, but love yourself more and want to leave for your own mental health.

You can want to stay and see your partner through anything.

Both of these things are the right answer. Situations and how we deal with them arent one size fits all.

But I know myself. I need peace, calm, and security in my relationship for the most part anyway. I dont want to feel like chasing a bet is coming before me, or taking away from a partnership, when there are so many other life factors that get in the way on a good day.

I can only do so much for him. I already have felt a part of my soul chip away, and Im not willing to let it crack completely under the weight of this.

This is the only thing I know for sure: I dont know how to be in love with a compulsive gambler.

If you or a loved one have a gambling addiction, there are resources out there to help. Call the National Council on Problem Gamblings confidential 24/7 help line: 1-800-522-4700. Find help specific to the state where you live as well as treatment facilities at the National Council on Problem Gamblings website.

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The Man I Love Has A Compulsive Gambling Problem And I Dont Know What To Do - Scary Mommy

Digital Banking

The pilot scheme will block gambling payments and card transactions to any operator supported by TrueLayer.

Two and a half years after Monzo became the first bank to introduce a gambling block, the digital bank has teamed up with TrueLayer to create an industry-wide open banking-powered gambling block.

The two fintechs have launched a pilot scheme using open banking to block gambling payments and card transactions to operators supported by TrueLayer, with the hope that other players in the industry will follow suit.

When activated, the block lets users stop transactions to bookmakers, both in-person and online, and places limits on cash withdrawals.

If a customer wants to turn off the function, they have to go through a 48-hour cooling-off period and even speak to someone in the customer support team, with the added friction hoping to deter problem customers.

In a blog posted this morning, Matthew Parish, product manager at TrueLayer and Albert Cabre Juan, open banking lead at Monzo, wrote: Open banking providers offer a unique opportunity to help gambling operators seamlessly support those experiencing gambling harms - and empower consumers to stay in control of their finances.

Initiatives like affordability checks to flag at-risk players earlier, spending limits to help ensure players do not overextend themselves, and friction-free identity checks can all be improved using open banking.

According to the fintech dream team, the new function was built by Monzo and TrueLayer engineers in just a matter of days.

The blog post continued: By enabling the right types of protections for all players, gambling can remain a purely social activity, rather than one with life-altering negative effects.

The latest update to Monzos app comes after the digital bank called on the government to ensure everyone has access to gambling blocks, co-authoring a petition asking for gambling blocks to be made the norm.

To date, more than 275,000 Monzo customers have activated the gambling block and less than 10 per cent have ever switched it off permanently.

In 2020 alone, an average of 2,314 people every week have turned on the gambling block for the first time.

A year after its inception, Natalie Ledward, a vulnerable customer analyst at Monzo and the Monzonaut responsible for the gambling block, was named Your Consumer Champion at the Which? Awards 2019.

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Monzo and TrueLayer team up to launch industry-wide gambling block - AltFi

The government should force banks to let customers block all betting transactions, according to proposals led by the online lender Monzo, which wants gambling firms to hand over data to make sure the system is watertight.

In a letter to the sports minister, Nigel Huddleston, who is leading a landmark review of gambling law, Monzo, campaigners and addiction experts called on the government to use the opportunity to remove obstacles for people who want to stop betting.

All banks and other account providers should be made to offer tools that allow customers to bar themselves from making any gambling transactions on a debit card, they said.

Gambling companies would also be made to hand over their own bank account details, which could be stored on a central registry. This would help banks block all forms of payment for customers who want the feature, preventing them from using other means to circumvent card blocks.

At least eight major banks already offer some form of gambling block service but some of the tools available apply only to certain types of account or card.

About 40% of current account customers in the UK, or 28 million people, still do not have the option, according to a report released by the GambleAware charity last year, while 40% are unaware such tools exist.

Monzo said that it had 275,000 users with active gambling blocks with fewer than 10% of customers deactivating the block once activated.

We believe the government should take the opportunity afforded by the Gambling Act review to make sure every consumer in the UK can access these blocks, regardless of who they bank with, said Monzos chief executive, TS Anil.

The letter was also signed by researchers at the University of Bristol, a leading NHS gambling disorder expert, firms that provide gambling blocking software and gambling addiction campaign groups including GamFam.

These tools are simple to build, proven to work, and will help protect hundreds of thousands of people, they said.

The letter also calls on the government to work with video game companies to see if it would be possible to identify and block payments made for loot boxes, in-game features that have caused concern due to qualities similar to gambling.

Ultimately, the Gambling Act review offers a unique opportunity to create a world-leading self exclusion framework in the UK to reduce gambling harms, and help consumers gain control of their finances, the letter said.

The rise in online gambling, and new ways to pay, requires a robust response from the government.

A spokesperson for the Betting & Gaming Council said: We support all forms of blocking capabilities and are encouraged by the continued uptake by banks of these functions.

The Guardian has contacted the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport for comment.

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Force banks to let customers block gambling transactions, Monzo tells ministers - The Guardian

Alabama lawmakers finished what they considered urgent business the first two weeks of the legislative session, passing three bills related to the COVID-19 pandemic with overwhelming bipartisan support, but face more controversial topics in the weeks ahead.

They will first take a week off to evaluate how well efforts to meet safely during the COVID-19 pandemic are working.

If they dont find problems and return as expected on Feb. 23, they will dive into a plan for a lottery and casinos, a major gambling expansion that would raise a half-billion dollars or more a year for state programs.

The money would go to college scholarships for high-demand careers, expand access to broadband internet, support health care and mental health care, and other needs.

The bill is a constitutional amendment that would go to voters for a final decision if it clears the Legislature.

Besides the gambling bill, legislators will consider a range of bills on other timely or controversial topics, including Alabamas overcrowded and violent prisons, election law changes related to last years disputed presidential election, and issues that come up every year, such as gun control laws and medical marijuana.

Bills awaiting consideration would:

The legislative session can last up to 15 weeks, or until mid-May.

Some of the bills are likely to cause sharp disagreements. That will be a change from the last two weeks, when Republicans and Democrats, with just a handful of exceptions, voted for three priority bills to help the state cope with and recover from the pandemic.

On Friday, Gov. Kay Ivey signed the three bills. They will:

House Speaker Mac McCutcheon and Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed said the legislation is an important response to the pandemic, which cut short last years legislative session and killed those bills and others.

I think we accomplished what we needed to do, McCutcheon said. We got the three major bills out between the House and the Senate.

Weve had good progress on our budgets. And honestly, what we have gotten done over these two weeks has just really been phenomenal. Weve done better than I even thought we would do.

Reed sent out a statement saying the session was off to a strong start.

These are trying times for many across our state, and the Legislature, working with the governor, identified these three pieces of priority legislation to help Alabamians recover from the economic hardships endured throughout this pandemic, he said.

While these have been a strong first two weeks of session, we still have a lot of important work ahead of us. I look forward to continuing the bipartisan collaboration we have seen over the past few weeks as we continue to deliver results to the people of Alabama.

The Senate elected Reed as pro tem when Sen. Del Marsh stepped down after holding that post for a decade. Marsh, who is not running for reelection in 2022, said he wanted to concentrate on major legislation during his last two years in office. He is the sponsor of the constitutional amendment to allow a lottery and five casinos that would offer a full range of casino games and sports betting.

The Legislative Services Agency estimated the lottery and casinos could raise net revenue for the state of $450 million to $670 million. Read the fiscal note, which describes how the money would be used.

Senators discussed the bill Thursday but did not vote. Marsh said he expected to make changes to the bill in response to what he has heard from senators, representatives, and others, and would return with a revised version on Feb. 23.

Ive got to determine what is a package that I can truly, one, get through the Legislature and get to the people, Marsh said. And when they look at it they can say, They checked all the boxes. Im comfortable with this. I believe the money is going to the right places.

Alabama voters have not had a chance to vote on a lottery since 1999.

The Legislative Services Agency estimated the lottery would raise net revenue of $194 million to $279 million a year for the state. The money would go to a Lottery Trust Fund that would be used to pay for scholarships to community colleges. The intent is to help Alabama build a workforce needed to fill high-demand jobs in growing industries like automotive plants and aerospace companies. Scholarships would also go to students seeking teaching degrees in math and science, where there is a shortage of teachers.

The Legislature would hammer out more details in separate legislation. Marsh said his intent is to pass that before the amendment goes on the ballot so that voters will know the specifics.

The bill would allow casinos at the states four greyhound tracks in Birmingham, Macon County, Greene County, and Mobile, plus a fifth in northeast Alabama operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

Senators who spoke Thursday generally praised the bill but some complained that their districts would have no casino and would lose revenue they now receive from bingo. The bill would prohibit electronic bingo except at the casinos.

Marsh said he might change the bill to allow up to two more casinos but said he strongly believed that voters want a limit on the number.

For several years, lawmakers have taken steps to expand high-speed internet access. They created the Alabama Broadband Accessibility Fund to offer grants to help bring fiber connections to areas where providers might not otherwise serve because theres not enough return on the investment. But the funding is a fraction of what is needed. The pandemic has reinforced the importance of broadband, with public schools switching to online classes and many adults working from home.

Marshs bill would apply almost half of the revenue from casinos to broadband expansion until that total reached $1 billion. A companion bill would set up a new state agency, the Alabama Digital Expansion Authority, which would develop short-term and long-term plans to expand broadband and enable the state to issue bonds for that purpose. Read the summary.

The gambling bill would also direct money to rural health care. Marsh said Ivey wanted that to be part of the plan because she wanted to help rural hospitals.

Funding would also go to mental health services. Marsh said that was the result of discussions with House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter, who has led efforts to expand mental health care.

If the plan is approved, the governor would enter a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians that would allow the tribe to offer the full range of casino games at their electronic bingo casinos on tribal land in Atmore, Wetumpka, and Montgomery.

The plan would also authorize betting on sports events at the casinos and online.

Marsh said he wanted his bill to be as close to a final document as possible if it passes the Senate but said he understand the House will probably want to make changes.

House Speaker McCutcheon did not commit to supporting the bill or speculate on it. McCutcheon said the comprehensive nature of the bill -- with the lottery, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the four greyhound tracks, and county-based bingo all included -- is an important stating point.

It would be too early for me to start making a comment about what I would support and what I would not support, McCutcheon said. I do know, and Ive said this from the very beginning, is that weve got to bring all of these different entities together where we can sit down at the table and not fight against each other but try to look for the things that bring us together so that we could have a hope of passing something.

Prisons are a major topic. The Department of Justice sued the Alabama Department of Corrections last year, alleging that the state violates the constitutional rights of inmates by failing to protect them from violence. Alabamas prisons hold far more inmates than they were built for and their supervision suffers from a severe shortage of correctional officers.

The House Judiciary Committee has approved about a half-dozen bills related to the prison problems. They would give judges more discretion in sentencing parole violators; allow some nonviolent offenders to petition courts for shorter sentences; promote community corrections and other programs that divert offenders from prison; and temporarily create a second parole board to help relieve a backlog of inmates eligible for parole hearings.

McCutcheon said he expects those bills to receive consideration in the House.

Ivey has signed lease agreements for two new mens prisons and is negotiating a third. The leases do not require legislative approval. Legislators have said they are worried about the cost, projected at about $3 billion over 30 years. McCutcheon said the House has a backup plan to the lease agreements, but no bill has been introduced.

At least two bills propose changes to a law that prohibits cities and counties from moving historical monuments that are 40 years old or more from public property. The Legislature passed the Memorial Preservation Act in 2017 in response to Confederate statues coming down in other states. The law imposes a $25,000 fine for removal of monuments. Still, Birmingham, Mobile, and Madison County all took down Confederate monuments last year.

The House Judiciary committee did not approve a bill by Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, that would repeal the Memorial Preservation Act and allow cities and counties to move monuments to parks, cemeteries, or similar sites, or transfer ownership to other cities, counties, or a state agency. But the bill is in a subcommittee and could still be considered.

Another bill takes the opposite approach, making it harder to move monuments by increasing the penalties for removal. Rep. Mike Holmes, R-Wetumpka, is the sponsor.

McCutcheon said he did not want to speculate on what the House would do but said he expects representatives to debate the issues.

I think that there is a good possibility that that issue is going to be addressed. And I think theres a good possibility there may be some changes. To what extent that will be, I dont know, McCutcheon said.

The speaker said Givans bill had some merit because it would increase local control but did not endorse it.

A lot of the members have talked about thats a positive, they would like to see more local control because every area is not the same in the state. But, there again, the bills got to go through the process, McCutcheon said.

A Senate committee approved a bill that would prohibit puberty-blocking drugs, hormone treatments, and surgeries for minors seeking transgender therapy. The House Judiciary committee held a public hearing on a similar bill but did not take a vote.

A bill to legalize and regulate the production, sales, and use of medical marijuana products won approval by a Senate committee and awaits consideration by the Senate. It has passed the Senate the last two years but died in the House.

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Gambling bill tops list of tough issues when Alabama Legislature returns to work - AL.com

The representative for the biggest players in Australian online gambling says punters should be not be stopped from going into debt to bet.

Responsible Wagering Australia chief executive Brent Jackson's remarks follow a call for a crackdown on the use of credit cards in online gambling from Queensland MP Andrew Wallace.

The LNP Member for Fisher is pushing the country's banks to create a voluntary code of conduct that would mean punters could only place online bets using their own money.

Mr Wallace said it was a "no-brainer".

"We know that people pay 22 per cent or thereabouts in interest on their credit card balances that's a very dangerous mix," he said.

"You can't use a credit card to go into a TAB and gamble on the horses or the dogs, you can't use a credit card at a casino, and you can't use a credit card to gamble on the pokies."

For almost 20 years, gamblers have been unable to use credit cards to access cash advances in casinos and poker machine lounges.

Suncorp and Macquarie have already voluntarily stopped allowing credit cards to be used on wagering apps, but the big four Westpac, NAB, ANZ and Commonwealth Bank have not followed suit.

But Mr Jackson, whose lobby group represents the likes of Sportsbet, Bet365, Ladbrokes, Neds and others, said there was no reason to stop Australians from going into debt to gamble.

He said online gambling was "safer" than betting in a casino or at a poker machine because it was governed by strict legislation and companies could monitor gambling behaviour in real time.

"They do keep an eye out specifically for unusual behaviour and strange behavioural patterns and activity that is not considered normal and might be risky," Mr Jackson said.

"We can take a number of interventions aside from banning them completely we often contact customers directly as this is happening."

Mr Jackson said it should be left up to punters to decide whether they used credit cards when gambling online.

"We think that consumers should have the right to choose and directly manage their betting preferences," he said.

"What we're not seeing is any evidence of a problem out there at all.

"We think punters behave responsibly."

In late 2019, the Australian Banking Association (ABA) canvassed members and others as to whether banks should disallow the use of credit cards on gambling apps.

Its report found 81 per cent of Australians felt the practice should be restricted or banned.

Only 7 per cent supported no restrictions.

The ABA described gamblers as "vulnerable customers" on its website, but has decided against any kind of blanket policy citing fears it could fall foul of anti-competition laws.

But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it had supported other voluntary codes of conduct with banks.

A spokeswoman said the ACCC could also grant an exemption to the law if there was a significant public benefit.

Late last year an Australian Gambling Research Centre survey of 2,000 people found one in three signed up for new online betting accounts.

The biggest growth market was comprised of people aged 1834, who the centre found were gambling more and spending more.

Sportsbet's profit jumped by 108 per cent between April and June last year during COVID-19 shutdowns, increasing from $96 million to $191m.

David McAnalen said he used to put money down on just about anything he could "casino games, electronic gaming machines, pokies, scratch-its, lottos, raffles, horses, dogs".

"I was betting on everything," he said.

"If I was still an active gambler when the opportunity came into the online world, I would have embraced it as well."

Mr McAnalen said whatever the barrier, he would overcome it to gamble.

"I would always find a way I always did find a way," he said.

Mr McAnalen said he was compelled to change after his parents and sisters told him they loved him, but that they could not have him in their lives if he continued to gamble.

Now a Relationships Australia counsellor, Mr McAnalen said he was no longer "triggered" by gambling but neither was he entirely cured.

"It's the first drink that does all the damage it's the first bet that would do all the damage and everything would come back," Mr McAnalen said.

"I wake up in the morning and say: 'There are a lot of things I can do today and one thing I'm choosing not to do today is gambling'."

Associate professor Charles Livingstone from Monash University has been studying gambling habits for decades.

He agreed that online gambling had the potential to be safer, but did not think that was necessarily the case at the moment.

"They certainly could step in and stop people gambling," Dr Livingstone said.

"There's no evidence whatsoever that that's what they do."

A lot of gambling can be relatively harmless going in the office sweep for Melbourne Cup, buying a scratchy every now and then but for some people, it takes control and ruins their lives.

In case studies used in a Financial Counselling Australia study from 2015, members worked with people who had lost large sums of money betting online, including one gambler who amassed a $300,000 debt over a three-year period.

In 2019 an ABC investigation reported accusations that Bet365 was skewing its system to encourage losing gamblers while banning or restricting the winners.

This month, Oxford University research found that gambling increased the risk of death, in addition to being linked with addictive behaviour and financial problems.

The Oxford findings inspired Mr Wallace's call for change here in Australia.

"They don't want Mum or Dad to go out and blow the weekly wages at the track, or in this case online," he said.

"Banks have a social responsibility to step in and say: 'We're not going to allow this to happen any further'.

"If they won't introduce a voluntary code, I'll be recommending to my Parliamentary colleagues that we force them to do it.

"If they don't act voluntarily, they don't leave us with a lot of options."

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Online gambling lobby says 'no problem' with punting on credit as MP calls for crackdown - ABC News

Novak Djokovic says he could potentially cause more damage to his body by continuing to compete at the Australian Open following the abdominal injury he sustained during his third-round match against Taylor Fritz. On Sunday the world No 1 returned to beat Milos Raonic 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

After stating following his match against Fritz on Friday night that the ATP physio had told him his injury was definitely a tear, on Sunday he declined to describe his injury in detail. He said he had spent the previous 48 hours doing different treatments with different devices, including pills and painkillers, having coordinated with medical staff of Tennis Australia, ATP physios and his own physiotherapist.

Its kind of a gamble, said Djokovic. I mean, thats what the medical team told me. Its really unpredictable, you cant know whats going to happen with you once youre on the court. Youre not gonna save yourself or think about going for that point or this shot or that shot. It just pulls you. Its normal. Playing at this level, you just want to give it all.

It could cause much more damage than it is at the moment, but it also could go in a good direction. So thats something that I dont know, and I dont think I will also know until I stop taking painkillers. As long as Im with high dose of painkillers, I guess, you know, still can bear some of the pain.

Djokovic said he did not know whether he would play until a few hours before the match but he produced a highly competent performance to overcome Raonic. Although he sometimes grimaced, he won 78% of first serve points, fired 41 winners to just 25 unforced errors, moved smoothly and broke Raonics considerable serve three times.

Playing best-of-five with kind of an aggressive mover that I am on the court doesnt help much with this kind of injury, but I think the combination of pills and treatments and also some willpower and of course certain degree and level of bearing the pain. Mentally I think you have to kind of accept that I did come into the match knowing that Ill probably feel pain all the way through, which was the case, said Djokovic.

Injuries were the theme of the day as the 21st seed Grigor Dimitrov produced a shock 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 victory against the third seed Dominic Thiem to reach the quarter-finals. Thiem offered little energy or resistance throughout, scoring just six points in the 21-minute third set. Afterwards, he noted physical issues but declined to further elaborate.

Some little physical issues, he said. I dont want to go closer to them. I dont want to find any excuses. But the thing also is that Im also not a machine. I mean, sometimes I would like to be, but there are really, really bad days. As soon as youre not a 100% there on the court on this level, then results like this come up and thats exactly what happened today.

Dimitrov will face the surprise of the tournament, Aslan Karatsev, a 27-year-old Russian qualifier who defeated the 20th seed Felix Auger Aliassime 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to become the first male player in 25 years to reach a grand slam quarter-final on debut.

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Novak Djokovic 'gambling' on fitness after Australian Open win over Raonic - The Guardian