Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1. https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%) NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar. https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866 NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis !!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should. In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase. Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below: https://www.playboy.com/ https://www.playboytv.com/ https://www.playboyplus.com/ https://www.iplayboy.com/ Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success. “Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.” https://www.scientificgames.com/ https://www.microgaming.co.uk/ “This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.” https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/ As per their SEC filing: “Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.” https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1 They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon. https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again: https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea “Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.” “According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently: https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress. Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait. https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/ Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video: https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05 Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing: “For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.” “In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.” “In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.” “In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.” They are profitable across all three of their current business segments. “Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.” https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world. "Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.” Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame: “As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn. The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :( He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :) Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw. I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003 Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this: “Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy. “Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.” https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative. https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html Y’all like that China money? “Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.” Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.” https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose. I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing “Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.” “Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.” Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong. Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will. Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way. Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains. TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here: WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf Or here: https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.” STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon. Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.
I guess I'll throw my hat into the ring because as a WiiU owner (yes 1 of the 7) I feel nothing but contempt for this braindead company as a life long supporter of it. The reasons are many but I suppose I'll start off with a fun fact. Did you know that Nintendo released a bootleg WiiU and called it a new console. THE SWITCH. *Bu dum tss* Tonnes of missing basic os features (virtual console, folders(SERIOUSLY?!), functional online, simple UI customisation, anything friends related, etc), poorly designed hardware (worthless touch controls, joycon drift and nobody actually likes holding the joycons), mediocre original titles (with Odyssey and smash being 2 of the few only good 1st party games), the GOD DAMN PORTS! (Which by the way have no purchase transferability :D) and no support for legacy games that need it (What's a GameCube?) while haphazardly giving away games that don't (remember the Nintendo online giving away only NES games at launch XD). At least I know what kind of garbage I'm getting myself into if I ever buy a GAME from your standard list of bas*** developers, but Nintendo did the unthinkable and literally sold me a worthless CONSOLE. Now 2 common responses I've encountered are something along the lines of the following... "They are not abusing loot boxes and getting kids addicted to gambling the same way EA and other greedy publishers are" and/or "They not selling incomplete, messy games at full retail price" To the first point you haven't seen their mobile Mario kart and Fire emblem games (and to a lesser extent Xenoblade 2) have you... To the second you're right! They're selling games that aught to given heavy discounts for being a decade(s) old at full retail price (with the excuse that either the DLC is free or some small mode was added), while they let The Pokemon Company (which they partially own) sell "incomplete, messy games at full retail price" And their games OH THEIR GAMES. Need I go into the countless debates on why modern Paper Mario sucks. What about anything to do with Pokemon SW SH? How about the fact they removed touchscreen functionality for the WiiU port of BOTW so the switch version didn't look like the inferior. Or their countless arbitrary decisions that just make games worse for the sake of it. (Extra moons in odyssey being locked until post game and excess moons being worthless until said postgame, animal crossing having 1 island per switch, Splatoon 2 ONLY EXTRA MODE being locked on random days or whatever the heck they are doing to Mario party and why is every modern mario spin off so god damn generic) And never mind the games that just had no demand being made! Hey pikmin, Mario party 10, Chibi Robo zip lash, animal crossing amiibo festival, paper mario colour splash (I would comment on unwanted switch titles if they actually made original games for it XD oh wait there's 1, 2, switch...) And don't even get me started on how they treat their community. I think I speak on behalf of every Nintendo fan (especially as of late) when I say. DEAR GOD NINTENDO PLEASE JUST F OFF. You have NO GOD DAMN PLACE to shut down a gaming tournaments for using a slightly modified version of a game which you NO LONGER SUPPORT OR SELL, WHICH WAS ONLY MODIFIED IN ORDER NOT TO CATCH THE PLAUGE!! You have not a god damn say in how online content creators use your products. And why the hell can independent fans who know their game will blasted into oblivion make more fun and functional games than your multiple teams of full time professionals at your multibillion dollar company? (Project M, Pokemon Urainium,AM2R, I could go on!) SOME of the reasons I'm sick of this company. I'm sure there's a treasure trove of arguments out there I could add (There stance on piracy, denial of joycon drift, supply and demand issues for amiibo, nes and snes classic, making console mods illegal in japan, limited digitial release for games like 3d all stars) and many more that I've forgotten to mention and hundreds more of examples I could've incorporated, but these were the most impactful personally and/or relevant and I don't have eternity to write a reddit post. And while I'm sure many would agree with my points individually most don't abandon Nintendo in spite of them because they make good games. I've abandoned them. They are no better to me then the half assed devs at Bethesda, or the scum that is EA, or the leeches at Activision, or the hell spawn of Konami, or the censorious and hypocritical sony. I've had enough of the narsacistic Nintendo. The modern Nintendo. Signed: Ex life long Nintendo fan Edit: I don't think every switch game aside from Odyssey and smash are bad. They are just the only one's I've played and enjoyed that are original on the switch. Some games aren't to my liking and some I haven't played
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[Effortpost 6 of 15] Donald Trump's History of Bigotry
Based on the rhetoric of the 2016 Trump campaign, numerous racially charged tweets, anti-immigrant policies, and even the lack of diversity within his own staff, it doesn't seem surprising to say that Donald Trump is a bigot. Bear in mind that this will be quite long. It'll be broken down into three categories: pre-presidency, 2016 candidacy, and presidency. I should note that this post won't contain everything, so at the end I'll add other compilations of his remarks towards different groups.
The ads came from a grassroots anti-gambling group called the New York Institute for Law and Society created and run by longtime Trump friend and consultant, Roger Stone.
He claimed that it would be similar to President Eisenhower's "Operation Wetback" initiative, which deported 1.5 million illegal immigrants by bus, truck, and boat and dropped them off at remote parts of the US-Mexico border.
The capitalization of "TRAIL" refers to the Trail of Tears, an act of ethnic cleansing which forcibly relocated Native Americans and resulted in thousands of deaths.
2019 - Trump fired a series of tweets directed at Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib, claiming they are “from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe” and that they should "go back."
Stop AAPI Hate, an organization dedicated to tracking self-reported hostile anti-Asian instances since late March, says it has received over 2,000 reports since the project began. The group says it saw a surge in reports after Trump began using this rhetoric.
The group found that many anti-China comments were frequently associated with verbal and physical assault.
When you press play button on 1£ steak you win 40p and lose 60p, and you got some dopamine boost in your brain together with nice music and beautiful graphics and you got some pleasure which is fake and everything is illusion, they want you to feel like a winner and want you to feel very comfortable, one game can have up to 400 melodies to make you excited, probably you got it, they want you to become addicted, recently you saw a lot of ads online and tv and you are wondering why? First of all it’s money business and everyone takes their share, game provides, casinos and the government, at the moment they said that problem gamblers make around 15-20% of the income in the industry, so does it needs to reach 50% to do something about it? Or not? When it’s proven that gambling is highly addictive many times and makes a lot of harm people losing everything, their partners, money, friends and relationships their homes even lives they still support this harmful activity and pretending like they doing something to stop vulnerable players. You are still wondering why? The player can use self exclusion but still can open new account with another casino, when you try blocking software there is always a way to disable it, recently almost all banks introduced block to gambling transactions but guess what you still can unblock that option few hours later and play, also you can use paypal even if your bank account is empty or blocked for gambling transactions that's how people get drowned into big debts up to 150000£ in a single day. That’s because there is another team member who wants your money yes you’re right the bank. When you lose everything you will borrow money from the bank and then you pay interest, so very nice circle( the government and the bank don’t care which casino you’re playing with as long as you play) but it can be even worse there are so many illegal casinos hiding under gambling commission license for example Betfair this is multi country company but as you can see they are not allowed to operate in France,Germany, Belgium, Canada, Portugal, Turkey, Japan, China and many more, but they do in UK and if you do a little research you can see how many people got scammed by this company, one report says: Online casinos, often take advantage of the lack of supervision and inspection from law and gambling authorities and take the money of their customers with unfair games. Very recently it was reported that in RNG roulette at Betfair online casino, number 18 appeared 11 consecutive times! The actual probability of this happening is one of trillion of spins! Yet the casinos can claim that “every 11 spin sequence is equally probable with any other” so nothing wrong with hitting 11 times back to back. Another player got football bet and while his team was winning at 80 min of the game he wanted to cash out, but the option was greyed out, and 89 min the match was draw and he lost 800£. And not just this Casino but many more around the word playing with RTP (Return to Player) so they can increase their share and even can go as low a 0% RTP yes probably you don’t believe me but this is the reality. Another player reported: “I just span approx 2500 spins on the Bonanza slot on various stakes from 2-20£ spending over 5000£… In all these spins I did not get ANY bonuses at all. I played at I believe a well known casino but think there is a glitch/error with the slot so the bonus can’t land. So do you believe that actually there is a problem with the slot or something else? Probably you can guess low or non existent RTP, and you still believe that you can get some nice and real win? Another player reported at askgamblers that when she was playing her favourite slot she hit the bonus round and won 5k from free spins but suddenly as soon as she go the the home page there was nothing no wins at all, then she contacted the support and they said there nothing on their side cant see that she actually won, so do you think that there was a glitch with the slot? Also another player reported that after winning around 7k and request the money his account was blocked even he was fully verified, then the casino said that their technical team discovered that there was problem with his account on multiple locations IP address, but the player said that this was not the case that he is the only one using the account from his mobile device and nobody else, case closed in favour of the casino and he lost 7k. Nothing in this life is perfect and do not believe anything you can see or hear, there is much more behind that you as a player can’t see, another player said trough the years(5 years) I spent nearly 30k and never won more then 500£ for few times. The biggest problem is money chasing even if you say you’re not chasing actually you do that’s why you always coming back, just remember the money you lost will never come back with gambling the only way is to work hard, and avoid everything about gambling, this is the biggest evil in the world, even on basic games you play on your phone a lot of times you can see similar things how the game is asking you to pick from the 3 boxes and you always got the lowest, no matter which box you choose. Stay positive about life and enjoy being with your loved ones, spend your time and money on things that make you happy, you don’t have to struggle and stress and live on the edge because everything is in you mind.
Well, I guess now’s as good a time as any. Daily reminder that Epic pretty much killed off the entire SEA competitive scene (and casual playerbase) by refusing to add SEA servers for no apparent reason for over a year, and forcing the entire region of players into JP servers instead. I’m pretty sure that there’s not a single competitive online game out there, outside of Japanese mmos, that forces their SEA playerbase to play in the JP region; reason primarily being that they’re literally on two different sides of the continent. Depending on where you live, the physical ping distance from SEA to JP = 65~200+ ping. Japan =/= majority of Asia. That’s like forcing SA players to play in NA because “bOtH aRe AmErIcAs.” (It’s not the servers’ fault either; AWS Singapore’s been available since 2010, and unlike literally every other game out there that merges / closes servers when there’s a population number issue, they straight up excluded SEA servers for more than a year.) The playerbase for SEA isn’t that small either, if anything else, it’s Japan that is historically known for having a way smaller PC / Esports scene as compared to the rest of the world (they focus mainly on arcade / mobile, in fact, esports prize money was illegal up till last year due to their gambling laws.) Examples of healthy SEA > JP population: Dota 2—the SEA esports scene has been there all the way since Dota 1, and high mmr games can easily be found throughout all hours of the day, while high rank games are literally non-existent in JP, and even their pub players sometimes queue SEA during night time in order to avoid 10 ~ 30 minute queues; League—JP’s scene is pretty dead, while on the other hand, there’s a post by a riot employee sometime in the last year mentioning that Vietnam has the 2nd largest playerbase outside of Korea and 1.5 times larger than NA, and that’s not even including the other countries in the SEA region; Pubg—one of the best examples, Korea and Japan got region-locked and not even a year later, JP servers got completely shut down due to a lack of playerbase. So, with SEA being known for having a large online gaming population, and also a flourishing Esports scene, what possible reason does Epic have for forcing the entire SEA region to play 80-150+ ping on JP servers for more than a year(!) before adding in SEA servers? And not even main servers at that, but sub-servers that don’t even work in Arena / Pop-up cups. We basically waited a whole year to play pub games when games released almost a decade ago launched with SEA servers (Dota 2—2011, CSGO—2012). Is it incompetency / lack of research / bad management? They themselves said during an AMA that server-cost is not a factor. There was mention of lower player pop, but shouldn’t they have launched SEA servers on launch, then merged servers into Japan IF there was a sizeable population issue? Instead of not having servers for more than a year, then mentioning about lower pop? Like no shit no servers = lower player pop? Something else I can point out is that the English SEA scrim discord numbers are pretty much equal to the JP + KR discord numbers, and that’s not including the large non-English speaking SEA population, and also the ME players queuing on SEA due to a lack of their own servers. And that is a playerbase / community grown from a region without servers for more than a year. So we’re definitely not talking about SEA being a small, small region complaining about lack of servers versus "bigger" JP. At this point, I think it’s quite possible that if SEA servers were no longer part of JP’s sub-region but a main server of it’s own (as it should be in the first place), the playerbase / competitive scene will still survive. In fact, there’ll definitely be a larger number of WC participants in available tournaments since half of SEA can’t even play on, or have more than 100+ ping on JP servers (that’s why you see all the “1 point = qualify for Asia posts.” It’s not just a matter of server pop, it’s that a whole region of Asia can’t even / or refuse to play on that ping.) If anything else, it’s likely the JP population numbers that’ll suffer, kind of like in Dota, League, OW, Pubg, etc. But is it worth screwing over the entire SEA region just so JP can get their queues? Taken from another comment, not mine
Gambling in Japan is an activity deemed illegal according to Chapter 23 of Japan’s Criminal Code. However, not all forms of gambling are prohibited in the country. We clarify what forms of betting is legal in Japan and explain the current and future gambling laws. GUIDE: JAPANESE ONLINE CASINOS. Although casino online gambling is at present considered an illegal practice in Japan, there have been petitions and bills drafted by certain individuals, who would like to see the casino online gambling industry ban be lifted in Japan, and accordingly, there has been a bill drafted in April 2013, requesting the legalisation of land-based casinos in Japan. Is gambling illegal in Japan? 18/10/2019 29/01/2020 by Rnel-Bairieric For many years now, Japan has actually had a really stringent set of laws embedded in location to make gambling illegal in Japan for their residents. Online gambling is also widespread. The laws are on the books, but little is done to go after casual gamblers. In the rare times action is taken, it is only a petty fine for the first offense. Online Betting in Japan. The Japanese government allows online betting for lottery, soccer toto, and public sport. At present, gambling remains largely illegal in Japan. The status of gambling has long been based on conservative and traditional social attitudes that look down on playing games of chance for money. With that being said, there are some grey areas in the nation’s gambling scene that allow games such as pachinko to flourish. On the flip side, there are illegal gambling opportunities throughout the country provided by the Yakuza, Japan’s organized crime organization. They are known to run illicit casinos featuring high-stakes Pachinko, Mahjong, and Baccarat, and are unforgiving when it comes to payments due.
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