Nine Lives -- Neteller co-founders Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre have been given further reprieve. The U.S. government has extended a third time the deadline to decide whether to indict the two men who were arrested in January and charged with money laundering in connection with Internet gambling. The new hearing date is May 16.
Diversifying -- In his address to shareholders, Gaming VC (GVC) CEO Kenneth Alexander said that, in light of recent, arguably favorable developments regarding cross-border I-gaming in the EU, the company will focus on European diversification as its "key strategic objective." Alexander said the company was considering launching a sports book and is currently looking to secure Italian sports betting licensure. He added that GVC will shift its focus to online marketing and scale back its direct mail initiatives to its German-speaking market.
Partnering -- Inspired Gaming has partnered with Silver Heritage to, over the next 12 months, roll out a significant number of terminals throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Speak Softly, and Name Your Company -- iGaming Corporation has changed its name to Big Stick Media Corporation. "The proposed name more appropriately represents us as the media corporation that we are," said Big Stick CEO Christopher Kape.
Reporting -- Gaming VC today released its Q1 results, which showed a 95.7 percent increase in new registrations (37,401) compared to last year's figure (19,110). Revenue for the quarter totaled $15.8 million, up 11.4 percent against $14.2 million in 2005. "These Q1 results represent a solid performance for Gaming VC," said company CEO Kenneth Alexander. The change of name is subject to approval from both the TSX Venture Exchange and the company's shareholders.
Gaming-Focused -- Reuters reports that U.K. investment group Premier Portfolio will, in an attempt to strengthen the performance of its European growth fund, move into "overlooked online gaming stocks." The £13 million ($26 million) growth fund has performed well since manager Rupert Morrell took control in 2005, but has only matched the average manager in the IMA Europe ex-U.K. sector over the past year, the news service said. Morrell said that I-gaming stocks have become undervalued as a result of the U.S. prohibition.
Big Loss -- Asia-focused e-biz solutions provider PacificNet (PacNet) has reported a Q4 loss of $20 million, or $1.73 a share, on revenue of $10.4 million. During Q4 2005, the company generated $918,000, or $0.08 a share, on revenue of $13.4 million. PacNet said it was mulling the sale of its low-margin, China-focused telecom business units following restrictions on value-added services in the country. It also said it now planned to focus on the Asia-facing gaming market. PacNet shares were down six percent on the NASDAQ at $4.84 on news of the results.
Options -- Las Vegas From Home.com has granted its new CFO, David Shore, 800,000 incentive share purchase options, exercisable at $0.24 per share, which expire on April 11, 2010. The company said that, of the options granted, 25 percent will vest immediately, and thereafter, 25 percent will vest every six months.
Stock Watch -- On the LSE today, Ladbrokes is down 7p to 413.75, Playtech is up 2p to 378 and CryptoLogic is up 15p to 1,323.