Neteller Bids Israeli I-Gamers Farewell -- London-listed payments processor Neteller on Thursday said it would no longer process I-gaming-related transfers on behalf of Israeli resident customers. "In light of the recent legal developments in Israel, Neteller has decided to implement a voluntary phased withdrawal of the payment services related to online gambling that it offers customers to the Israeli market," it said. Neteller said Israeli customers could continue to use their accounts for non-gambling-related money transfers and withdrawals. It added that it will cease processing I-gaming transfers to merchants from Israeli customers from 12:01 a.m. today.
Inside Gaming, Playtech Ink Deal -- Inside Gaming Limited has migrated its games offering and clients to the Playtech platform. "We have adopted a more hands-on approach in our partnerships with our clients and it has proved to be fruitful for all parties," said Inside Gaming director Richard Hogg. "In partnering with Playtech we now have a full suite of products enabling us to offer what we feel is the best on the market."
Scientific Games Acquires Half of Guard Libang -- Scientific Games has agreed to acquire a 50 percent stake in Guard Libang, the China-based instant lottery ticket cooperative services provider, for an estimated $27 million. Guard Libang is an indirect subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Rex Capital Financial Holdings. Scientific Games said it expects the acquisition to be neutral to 2007 earnings though accretive in 2008.
SportsDirect Acquires Two New Content Sites -- Content provider SportsDirect has acquired ProSportsDaily.com and BullySports.com. ProSportsDaily.com provides sports-news resources, breaking news and perspectives from several columnists, while BullySports.com provides fantasy games and contests from all professional sports, including football, basketball, baseball, golf, racing and college sports. "Adding them to our family of sites offers visitors greater variety of content and interaction on our network," said SportsDirect chief executive Paul Lavers.
Space-Based Proprietary Algorithms -- Games Marketing has agreed to market a new product developed by Yuzoz, which captures data from live astronomical events--solar flares, northern lights and such--to produce randomly generated numbers. "Players of all sorts of games, whether space-themed or not, will come to appreciate our live, transparent, certified random data that spring from the very randomness of the solar system," said Yuzoz chief executive Jeffrey Manber.
Admit It: You're Interested -- Bloomberg reports that amid the hype surrounding J.K. Rowling's seventh and final installment of the ubiquitous Harry Potter series, British bookie William Hill closed bets on Harry sacrificing himself at 2/5 on Tuesday--cut from an original quote of 33/1 in early July. For both avid and sheepish followers of the series, William Hill has Lord Voldemort, murderer of Harry's parents, at 9/4 to kill the adolescent wizard, with Professor Severus Snape, a former Voldemortian miscreant, at 4/1 to murder him. "Harry has been consistently backed to cause his own demise," said Rupert Adams, a spokesman for William Hill. "The idea seems to have gained momentum with Potter fans who expect Rowling to ensure that that is the last book ever written."
Stock Watch -- On the LSE, William Hill was up 3.50p to 639.50, PartyGaming remained even at 32.75p and 888 was up 0.75p to 117.25.