All Things Considered -- Representatives for Antigua and Barbuda (Antigua) and the United States today gave oral arguments before a three-member World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitration panel in Geneva. In March 2007, the WTO ruled that the United States remained non-compliant with the decision issued by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body in the original April 2005 proceeding. But in May of this year, the United States elected to withdraw its commitments from the gambling and betting sector under the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which subsequently opened it to compensatory claims from other WTO members. The long-standing dispute now awaits the arbitration panel's final decision, which officials say is expected on Nov. 30.
Infraprovement -- Infrastructure software specialist Terracotta has agreed to supply software solutions to PartyGaming. "Terracotta's ability to cluster hundreds of servers with much lower network utilization than alternative approaches results in very high performance and was a major consideration for PartyGaming," said Party Chief Operating Officer BD Goel.
Leaving the Nest -- Paddy Power has re-launched its Paddy Power Bingo operation on Parlay's standalone platform. "With the solid growth we've experienced, our business needs have evolved and we require the independence, flexibility and control offered by the standalone model," said Paddy Power's head of online bingo, Mark Nunan.
Pilot Project -- bwin and joint venture partner Betbull have begun work on a pilot retail project targeting the Autonomous Community of Madrid. Details of the project were not given, though the recently installed sponsors of Real Madrid said in a written statement that the project "is intended to show the extent to which bwin's strong brand awareness can be successfully transferred to the retail sector." bwin added that it plans to submit its final license application were underway, and that its first branded betting shop is expected to open in Madrid by Q1 2008.
Country by Country -- Curaçao-based Fortuna Gaming has re-launched its Europe-facing poker and casino under the Fortuna Royale brand. The company plans to introduce the brand on a country-by-country basis, beginning with Germany, with plans to expand as far as the Asia-Pacific region. "We have been researching what the market wants in each country," said Fortuna President Richard Raffay. "We intend to modify our content and games and offer these products in several languages including Swiss, French, Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese and Turkish."
Stock Watch -- On the LSE, Playtech was up 1.25p to 351.25, Rank was down 2.50p to 108.25 and William Hill was down 9p to 621.50.