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About Hot Tuna
A former Connecticut funeral director who stole clients’ prepayments to fund his excessive gambling habit will spend the next seven and a half years in state prison.
Philip Pietras, 52, admitted to stealing from more than 170 people, many of whom are senior citizens who sought to limit the emotional and financial burdens placed on their loved ones by prepaying for their funerals. But instead of placing those funds, meant for caskets and burial services, in escrow accounts, Pietras pocketed the money to gamble.
Pietras accepted a plea deal from the state, and prosecutors expect him to enter a guilty plea on Oct. 23 and be formally sentenced on Jan. 22, 2027.
What is Hot Tuna?
Dale Nally, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, has repeatedly emphasized that the primary objective of launching the province’s regulated market on July 13 was to offer consumers safe alternatives to illicit offshore sites operating out of jurisdictions like Malta and Curaçao.
“Standing still was not the responsible choice,” Nally said when the market launched. “Albertans were already gambling. What we’re putting in place is a regulated market that will put player safety and player responsibility first.”
“At the end of the day, this is not about revenue. This is about channelization,” Nally added. “How much of that black market can we channelize into the legal, regulated market?”
What is Hot Tuna?
BGaming has released Johnny vs Chicken, a slot that pulls two recurring characters out of separate franchises and stages a head-to-head between them. The Johnny Cash character, from titles including Johnny Cash Train Heist and Johnny Cash Gold Rush, draws pistols with the lead sheriff from Chicken Rush.
The news here isn’t really about a single Wild West slot. It’s about how BGaming is treating its existing intellectual property. Rather than launching another standalone theme, the studio is connecting characters that already carry their own player recognition, a crossover approach more common to entertainment franchises than to slot catalogs.
The game arrived on September 15, 2026, and forms part of BGaming’s Entertainment line.
