State Treaty Scorched by Fluxx -- In the European theatre, Peter Harry Carstensen, the Prime Minister of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, was this morning authorized by his cabinet to approve the ratification process of the draft of the State Treaty on gaming. Responding to the news, Rainer Jacken, board spokesman for Fluxx AG, said: "If the federal states' parliaments . . . ratify the draft treaty, the courts will simply override the State Treaty again . . . It is totally unacceptable for a community of people that regards itself as a state under the rule of law . . . to act in complete defiance of the European Commission's trenchant criticism." The lack of clarity regarding the impetus of the State Treaty, which seeks to nationalize the country's lottery and sports-betting industries, has led some legal experts to reason that the treaty runs contrary to the Placanica ruling, issued by the European Court of Justice in March of this year.
You Can Run . . . -- Swedish daily The Local reported Saturday that Sweden's Tax Board will initiate a program targeting real-money poker and gaming Web sites. The board expects to recover millions of kronor in undeclared revenue from hundreds of Web-site owners. "It's not individual players we're after," said Dag Hardyson, head of the board's Internet unit, "it's sites who live on sending players through to gaming sites." The affiliate sites are often compensated for luring and subsequently routing players to gambling sites, the paper said.
UIGEA Hurts WSOP Numbers -- The AP reports that top prize at this year's World Series of Poker Main Event will total $8.25 million, based on the 6,358 entrants who registered to compete over the tournaments four starting days. 2007 numbers have fallen short of last year's record 8,773 participants and $12 million prize, though the tournament follows the October 2006 enactment of the U.S. Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which, arguably, had a hand in shrinking attendance.
Dumping Shares -- 888 director Jonathan Preminger has sold 100,000 shares at 114.25p per share. Following the sale, the company said, Preminder holds 151,521 shares.
Board Swap -- Fun Technologies said today that Andrew Rivkin, chairman of the board and co-founder of the company, did not stand for re-election as a director of the company at its recent AGM. Three additional directors, Mike Carleton, Harvey Solursh and John Albright, also did not stand for re-election, the company said. As a result, Fun has appointed three new members, David Goldhill, J. David Wargo and William Brock, to its board.
Camelot Hits the Air -- U.K. National Lottery operator Camelot has reportedly inked a deal with television content provider Top Up TV to launch its National Lottery Xtra service. The service will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the "good causes" which have benefited from the funding, news updates and other services. Top Up's deal with Camelot will concludes in January 2008.
Stock Watch -- On the LSE, PartyGaming was down 1p to 34.25, Rank was down 2.25p to 185 and 888 remained even at 115p.