Language differences were the explanation Friday of a bizarre series of press releases which had a pair of I-gaming companies announcing partnerships only to have the other denying the claims.
After AngelCiti announced in a press release yesterday that it and World Information Technology, Inc had entered into a Letter of Intent, World Information Technology in its own press release denied that the companies had reached any agreement. AngelCiti then responded by confirming in yet another press release that a Letter of Intent really had in fact been signed.
The initial press release by AngelCiti explained that World Information Technology, an e-commerce company based in Taiwan, would "drive traffic to AngelCiti's Chinese-branded websites."
Worldwide’s President, Hseuh Chu Lin said the partnership is a key one for his firm.
"We feel that this partnership provides a unique opportunity to enter into the virgin Chinese online gaming markets. China has the fastest-growing online population and our unique ability to tap into the Chinese-speaking population through our e-commerce operations enables us to leverage our database and drive significant traffic to this joint venture. AngelCiti's current international presence makes it the ideal partner for this venture."
World Information Technology's release one day later, however, states that, "World Information Technology, Inc. wishes to refute all quotes that were claimed to have been made by its President, Mr. Hsueh Chu Lin in AngelCiti's statement released yesterday. The Company has not entered into any "partnership" or "joint venture" with AngelCiti."
World Information Technology's statement was immediately followed by one from AngelCiti, verifying that a Letter of Intent had been entered. AngelCiti President George Guttierez is quoted in this third press release as saying, "We find WRLI's statement this morning confusing when they are already promoting the Chinese language version of their website at . We firmly believe that all parties are committed to moving this relationship forward and will be discussing things with them today to provide further clarification."
Larry Hartman, a spokesman for Angelciti later told IGN, "I had a conversation with people with World Information Technology today, and I think part of the confusion happened because our company received a quote from Mr. Chu Lin in Taiwan, and evidently the people in the U.S. at World Information Technology were not made aware of it for some reason."
Hartman pointed out that cross-promotion is already underway between the two companies.
"It is obvious in the subsequent reply that the fact that World Information Technology is already out promoting Shark Casino's Chinese language website that there is something more substantive there than a Letter of Intent. But the best I was able to tell was that there was a little bit of misunderstanding between their Taiwanese and U.S. offices and I'm hoping the company is able to have that clarified very soon"
World Information Technology was not available for comment at the time this article was published.
Emily Swoboda is the senior staff writer at IGamingNews. She lives in St. Louis, Mo.