Gambling giant MGM Resorts International says it did nothing wrong in its dealings with a New York City man who accuses it of preying on his gambling addiction with repeated cash bonuses intended to keep him gambling

Mark Robins has praised Coventry for being “one game away from achieving a dream” at the end of a season in which he accepts he might have been sacked. Coventry meet Luton in the Sky Bet Championship play-off final on Saturday with a Premier League place and the millions of pounds that come with such status at stake. Yet Coventry – who played seven of their opening nine league games away from the CBS Arena this season after the Commonwealth Games’ Rugby Sevens wrecked the pitch – were bottom of the Championship on October 19 and still in the relegation zone as November began. “We are one game away from achieving a dream and changing the club’s future very quickly,” said manager Robins. “This season has been exceptional in terms of the start we were handed and all the well documented issues that we had. “The fact I remained in post when others didn’t. Bottom of the league in October, it’s generally unacceptable. “That’s been something you look back on and say, ‘OK, that could have happened but it didn’t’. “We managed to navigate our way through a really difficult period and come out the other side. “The supporters understood the situation and really backed it, and without them it wouldn’t have happened. “That’s why it makes it so special because, for me, the biggest achievement since I came through the door is the reconnection between players and supporters and long may that continue.” Robins’ second Coventry spell – he spent five months there before leaving for Huddersfield in February 2013 – began in March 2017 with the Sky Blues bottom of League One and doomed to relegation. Coventry claimed promotion the following season with a Wembley play-off final victory over Exeter, and Robins repeated the trick in the Covid-hit campaign of 2019-20 as the club returned to the second tier of English football for the first time since 2012. Success was more notable as it was achieved against the backdrop of playing in Birmingham between 2019 and 2021 due to a rent dispute. A sense of calm did not arrive until January when Doug King completed a full takeover of the club, while last month’s agreement of a five-year deal to continue playing at the the CBS Arena has provided further stability. “I’ve had so much turbulence here that my first job at Rotherham stood me in good stead,” said Robins, recalling the 2008-09 League Two season when the Millers were deducted 17 points and Luton lost 30 for breaching Football League insolvency rules. “The game is one for the romantics because of the journeys both clubs have been on. “Luton dropped out of the league when I started my managerial career and found it very difficult to come back from that position. “It took them five years to get back in and they have had a phenomenal run ever since.” The game is one for the romantics because of the journeys both clubs have been on Coventry manager Mark Robins Coventry lost only once in their final 17 games to finish fifth in the Championship and they edged out highly fancied Middlesbrough in their play-off semi-final. But Robins said: “We are under no illusions Luton are going to be made favourites because they finished 10 points ahead of us in the division. “Luton are a really good team with some good technical players and have the power to go with that. That’s why they finished third. “They are a year ahead of us in their development (Luton were play-off semi-finalists last season) and are expected to go up. No one expected us to be in this game. “But the change of ownership has accelerated our five-year plan by five years. We’ve got to try and and finish this off, but to be in a position to do that is in itself incredible.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Marc Skinner bemused at lack of praise for Man Utd as they fight for WSL title Pep Guardiola: Disallowed Haaland ‘goal’ proves Man City success is on own merit Sale skipper Jono Ross hoping to finish career with ‘special day’ at Twickenham

Torrential rain and hailstorms have caused damage in the north while Sicily battles extensive wildfires.

By Sam Nussey TOKYO Sony Group Corp said on Wednesday that its status as an independent provider of

OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 1, 2023--

Our take on a north Italian pasta alla Genovese, this pesto and green bean spaghetti is a thrifty game-changer,” say Kate and Kay Allinson from Pinch of Nom. “Using just a few simple ingredients and one saucepan, you won’t believe how easy it is to prepare this spaghetti dish from scratch. By combining Parmesan with garlic, basil and zesty lemon juice, we’ve recreated a luscious green pesto sauce… Don’t forget to save your pasta water – it gives every twisty forkful an even silkier texture.” Pesto green bean spaghetti Serves: 4 Ingredients; 150g dried spaghetti 170g new potatoes, sliced 100g green beans, trimmed 60g fresh basil 4 garlic cloves, peeled 30g Parmesan cheese, finely grated Juice of 1 lemon Method: 1. Add the spaghetti and new potatoes to a large saucepan of boiling water. Cook for eight minutes until the potatoes and spaghetti are nearly done. Add the green beans and cook for another four minutes. 2. While the spaghetti is cooking, add the basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese and lemon juice to a food processor. Blitz until smooth. 3. Once the spaghetti, potatoes and green beans are cooked, drain (reserving a little of the cooking water). 4. Add the spaghetti, potato and green beans back to the pan and pour over the pesto mixture. Add one tablespoon of the reserved pasta water, stir and add a few extra tablespoons of water as needed (we added three tablespoons of the reserved pasta water to coat our pasta, but it depends on how thick your pesto is. Start with one tablespoon and go from there). The pesto should coat each spaghetti strand. Serve. ‘Pinch Of Nom: Budget’ by Kate and Kay Allinson (Bluebird, £17.99). Read More Get set for Wimbledon with top pastry chef’s strawberry recipes Pinch of Nom: Healthy eating doesn’t have to cost the earth ‘Deliciously indulgent’ one-pot chilli mac and cheese Can’t decide between a cookie or a brownie? Now you don’t have to The Norwegian sparkling wine aged at the bottom of the sea I was an air fryer sceptic – now I can’t stop using it

Call of Duty will reportedly be getting a fully-fledged title in 2023, despite rumors that Modern Warfare 2 would have a two-year cycle.

By Jack Queen Donald Trump wasted little time attacking a New York judge’s top clerk on Thursday after

The Swiss, feeling the impact of global warming on their rapidly melting glaciers, were voting on Sunday on a new climate bill aimed at steering...

Gekko is the new agent, but he has to pick up his abilities to reuse them. This makes him have some weaknesses. Here are more ways to counter Gekko in Valorant.

A number of previously secret details about the relationship between Xbox and PlayStation have become public in the latest fight over the future of the consoles. Microsoft has been attempting to buy Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard in a $69 billion merger that would become one of the most valuable corporate deals in history. But regulators across the world have voiced concerns that the merger would give the new company too much power. That includes the US Federal Trade Commission, which has asked a US judge to postpone the deal to allow it to investigate the deal. Court hearings between the US body, and a variety of gaming companies, began this week to decide that question. Already they have led to what appears to be the accidental publication of highly confidential information from Sony. Court documents supplied by PlayStation boss Jim Ryan were made available to the public with some of the information blacked out – but the way the document was scanned meant that information was visible behind the redactions, The Verge reported. Those documents reveal that the game Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million to make, over the course of five years, and that the Last Of Us Part II cost a similar amount. The document also showed that a million PlayStation players only play Call of Duty, and that millions of them spend the majority of the time playing it. That information was shared in an attempt to convince the court that the purchase of Call of Duty could mean the game being removed from the PlayStation, and that such a move could cause major problems for PlayStation. But it also meant that new details about just how popular the game is. In the same hearings, however, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said it would make “no strategic sense” for Call of Duty to be available only on one console. “I grew up in a company that always believed that software should run on as many platforms as possible,” he said. Asked if Microsoft would have any incentive to refuse to allow the games on Sony’s PlayStation in order to sell more of its Xbox consoles, Nadella responded, “It makes no economic sense and no strategic sense.” To address the FTC concerns, Microsoft has agreed to license the blockbuster “Call of Duty” to rivals. It has also argued that it is better off financially by licensing the games to all comers. The FTC has asked Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in San Francisco to temporarily stop the deal from closing in order to allow the agency’s in-house judge to decide the case. In the past, the side that lost in federal court often conceded and the in-house process was scrapped. The FTC, which enforces antitrust law, has taken a harder line on mergers during the Biden administration to protect consumers from being disadvantaged by powerful corporations. Much of the testimony in the trial has focused on Activision’s “Call of Duty,” one of the best-selling videogames of all time. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick testified earlier on Wednesday that if Microsoft bought his company and blocked other gaming platforms from offering “Call of Duty,” it would alienate many of the 100 million monthly active users and hurt its popularity. “You would have a revolt if you were to remove the game from one platform,” said Kotick, who added that it was vital to offer the game across multiple platforms, including consoles, mobile phones and personal computers. Mr Kotick argued there was no incentive for Microsoft, if it closes the deal for Activision, to restrict who offers the company’s games. For example, he said that removing “Call of Duty” from Sony’s PlayStation would be “very detrimental” to Activision’s business. He also acknowledged that the deal, which he said earlier on Wednesday he wants “very much” to close, would result in his personal shares being valued at over $400 million. The deal has won approval from many jurisdictions but has been opposed by the FTC in the United States and Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority. Additional reporting by Reuters

A top US Treasury official is set to visit Turkey next week for talks on American sanctions against