H1 Going Well for 888 -- In a trading update released this morning, 888 said that first-half sales had met with managerial expectations and that the company was "confident" regarding earnings for the year. It will report first-half results on Sept. 10.
SkillGround Partners with Sportingbet -- SkillGround has agreed to supply Sportingbet with real-money peer-to-peer and free-play video games. "This partnership introduces SkillGround to a new and very large installed base and confirms that the online gaming community is interested in playing skill-based games for cash," said SkillGround managing director Michael Haines.
Svenska's Baltic Expansion a No-Go -- Svenska Spel, the Swedish gaming monopolist, has chosen to pull the plug on its Baltic-region expansion plans, having terminated its joint-venture lottery business, Winloto, in Lithuania. Swedish daily Dagens Industri reports that the company's decision had nothing to do with criticism it had received from the European Commission. The paper quotes Svenska CEO Jesper Karrbrink as saying: "During the previous government we had a decision to cooperate with other gaming companies and out of this the expansion into Lithuania was born. To be able to continue with this in full, there would need to be a change in the company structure, and this change was possible."
Barney Gets Two More -- The Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, spearheaded by Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, received two additional co-sponsors Wednesday. U.S. Reps. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., and Bennie Thompson, D-MS, singed on, bringing the total number of co-sponsors to 28.
Tooting the Horn -- Camelot said Wednesday that its U.K National Lottery is the most "successful interactive lottery in the world." According to figures released by the company, 2.7 million players registered to play interactively, and that Web, digital TV and mobile sales have generated an estimated £5 million a week. Camelot added that the National Lottery is played by more than 70 percent of U.K. adult population and that it had raised more than £20 billion for good causes. However, the company did not specify the respective time periods over which the data were collected.
Scientific Games on Hold -- In a research note published Wednesday, analyst Ryan Worst of Brean Murray maintained his "hold" rating for Scientific Games, which, this week, lost out on the OPAP IT tender. Murray said that the company's growth in China, Mexico and Germany is unlikely to offset the potential loss of revenues from existing contracts over the next two years.
In the Waiting Line -- A heads-up for those seeking Maltese I-gaming licensure. The country's Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) announced Tuesday that it had received an "unexpected" influx of applications for new licenses; as such, it would not guarantee that applications would be processed within the normal timeframe. The LGA added that applications received after July 9 could be processed as late as October.
Stock Watch -- On the LSE, 888 was up 1p to 116, PartyGaming remained even at 33.75p and Sportingbet was up 1p to 56.50.