Gaming-Focused -- PacificNet (PacNet), the Asia-facing e-biz solutions provider, has announced plans to sell its 51 percent stake in Guangzhou 3G Information Technology Company to HeySpace International for $6 million. "This strategic sale made business sense and was in line with our new focus on gaming," said PacNet CEO Tony Tong.
Keeping Watch -- PartyGaming has announced an affiliate fraud monitoring agreement with Envisional, the Internet intelligence company. Envisional will provide its A3I intelligent search technology to verify all claims of affiliation with, and detect any misuse of, Party's name and brands.
No Smoking, No Biz -- The Times reports that, in anticipation of England's July 2007 smoking ban, Rank Group has put nearly 10 percent of its Mecca bingo clubs estate up for sale. In Scotland, where a ban was introduced last March, revenues at its bingo halls have dropped 17 percent. The company is planning to sell about 10 of its 103 units, the paper says. The sale follows Rank's announcement in February that it would close nine sites before the ban was effected.
Freedom Isn't Free -- According to the New Zealand Herald, the United States is losing market share as an international tourist destination. The paper reports that in a recent poll of international travelers, commissioned by Discover America Partnership, a coalition of U.S. tourist organizations, 70 per cent of respondents said they feared U.S. officials more than terrorists or criminals. A further 66 per cent worried they would be detained for some minor blunder, such as wrongly filling out an official form or being mistaken for a terrorist, while 55 per cent say officials are “rude.”
Quoteworthy -- "A saner approach would be to allow online betting through licensed and regulated operators, as proposed by U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Such operators could be required to meet age-verification standards, analyze betting patterns to detect and block compulsive gamblers and pay additional taxes, with a portion going to treat gambling addiction. This approach would do far more to protect the public than ineffective prohibitions that criminalize on the high-tech version of an otherwise legal act."
- An excerpt from an editorial carried by the Los Angeles Times on Friday.
"I applaud the [U.S. Trade Representative's office] for clarifying the United States' strong stance against Internet gambling by withdrawing concessions under GATS[, the General Agreement on Trade in Services,] in the Internet gambling sector. Our nation's anti-gambling laws were enacted to help curb such activities as money laundering, the exploitation of children, bankruptcies and the like. It is the sovereign right of the United States to pass such laws and the GATS agreement, which was negotiated in 1993, could not have contemplated Internet gambling, especially since the United Stated and many other nations already had anti-gambling laws on their books in 1993. In light of the recent decision by the WTO, it makes sense that the U.S. government clarify its obligations on the issue."
- From a prepared statement issued Thursday by U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., on news of the United States' intentions to clarify its ban on I-gaming in relation to its WTO dispute with Antigua and Barbuda.