LEGAL ACTION
Betfair, the betting exchange, announced on Thursday that it has filed an action with the civil district court of The Hague against the Dutch government -- alleging that the government has actively called for payment blocking on gambling Web sites.
Also launching a formal complaint to the European Commission, Betfair said its actions come after the Dutch Ministry of Justice reportedly issued a letter "urging Dutch banks not to process payments from any Dutch customers wishing to place a bet on any legal gaming Web site"
Calling the Dutch Ministry's move "desperate," Mark Davies, Betfair's managing director, said that it also goes against Dutch consumer interests and "fly in the face of the EU principles."
"It is madness that the Netherlands, as one of the founding members of the single market, has resorted to illegal tactics that prevent consumer choice and go against the treaty," he said in a company statement.
NO MORE TENDER?
Turkey has abandoned the tender for the privatization of Milli Piyango, the country's national lottery, Reuters reports.
According to the news agency, the two bidders -- OPAP S.A. , the Greek betting monopoly, and Turkcell, Turkey's largest mobile-phone operator -- failed to meet the minimum bid of $1.6 billion.
Last month OPAP and Turkcell placed official bids for the 10-year lottery license.
The lottery license was to give the winner 17 percent of revenue after sales and gambling taxes, according to officials at Turkey's asset sales agency.
MAKING THE SWITCH
Paddy Power, the Irish gambling company, has switched from
Parlay Entertainment to
Virtue Fusion Alderney for its bingo and games package, Virtue Fusion announced on Thursday.
"Liquidity is key in pari-mutuel games such as bingo," said Christopher Coyne, Paddy Power's head of e-Gaming, in a company statement.
"We’re now joining the largest bingo network available, and through this move to Virtue Fusion, we are able to offer our customers better product and mini games not to mention more compelling bingo prizes," he added
RENEWING
Gala Coral Group, the United Kingdom gaming company, has renewed its contract with Chartwell Technology Inc. to 2012, the online gambling software supplier announced on Thursday.
The three-year contract marks the fourth consecutive term for Chartwell's flash-based casino and soft gaming products, the company said.
"We have been working with Coral and Eurobet for seven years now and have valued our working relationship with them as a technology partner," said Dave Acorn, chief operating officer of Chartwell, in a statement.
SIGNING
Danske Spil, the Danish state lottery operator, has inked a three-year deal with Enetpulse, a Copenhagen-based company, for the live sports data provider's range of fantasy gaming products.
Through the collaboration, the companies will release a series of fantasy games with a minimum of six new games each year, Enetpulse said.
The games will focus on soccer, cycling and the National Football League with new games including the Danish SAS League, the English Premier League and Tour de France.
"We’ve been doing fully managed fantasy games for a range of online and media companies like TV2 Denmark and TV2 Norway for some time now but this is the first with a state-owned gaming supplier," said Simon Skarsholm, Enetpulse's managing director, in a company statement.
DATA MANAGEMENT
Bet365 Group has chosen GemStone Systems, an Oregon-based company, as its new infrastructure technologies provider, the companies have announced.
Using GemFire, GemStone Systems' data management solution, the online gambling group hopes to achieve faster transaction processing on its online portal.