In China -- A joint directive from China's Ministry of Public Security and the State General Administration of Sport has ordered police and sports officials to tighten up on sports gambling, including online betting, to address the problem of match fixing scandals plaguing the nation's football league. Activities such as setting up gambling booths, inducing people to bet, fixing matches and organizing online soccer gambling will be the focus of the crackdown. China's police and sporting officials have been asked to boost Internet surveillance to root out soccer gambling Web sites with equal attention paid to both Chinese and foreign gambling organizations.
Absolute Blackjack -- Poker site Absolute Poker announced today that it is adding blackjack to its arsenal of online games. "Blackjack is often a popular choice for players due to the mix of skill and chance involved," said Mike Edwards, marketing manager at Absolute Poker. "We're really excited to offer this new game option to our players and to expand beyond our passion for poker."
Exploring Motivations -- Dr. Gerda Reith of the University of Glasgow will over the next three years be talking to British gamblers in casinos, betting shops, arcades and bingo halls, as well as lottery players and Internet gamblers, to find out what motivates them to gamble. The study, which commenced this weekend, will also examine gambling addiction. "Tackling Britain's problem gambling is a very current issue," Reith said. "In the past decade, increasing liberalization has transformed the climate of gambling in Britain, bringing the activity to greater numbers of people than ever before. However, despite the increased popularity of gambling, surprisingly little is known about the actual motivations, characteristics and lifestyles of gamblers and problem gamblers."
Fantasy Buy -- Online gaming provider FUN Technologies Inc. announced today that it has acquired from Silverstar Holdings Ltd. all of the assets of Fantasy Sports, Inc., which provides fee-based NASCAR-related fantasy sports solutions. Total consideration for the acquisition was US$3.85 million in cash.
Seeking Milli Piyango -- Socrates Kokkalis, chairman Greek betting technology company Intralot, has expressed the company's interest in making a bid for the privatization of Turkish lottery Milli Piyango, scheduled for the second half of this year after the completion of necessary legal reforms. With revenues of about €850 million, Milli Pinyango is the smallest of three Turkish betting companies.
Delay -- Greek lottery operator OPAP will not introduce Greek football league betting to its fixed-odds betting game, Stihima, until the new season in September, due to the appointment of new members to the Committee of Professional Athletics, according to local press reports last week. But Reuters also reported last week that OPAP said it may begin offering the betting by the end of May if approval is granted by a government sports committee. "We cannot rule out the possibility of including some Greek (soccer) matches of the current playing season in Stihima," the company said. OPAP said the committee had delayed a ruling after the government appointed the new members but that approval by the end of May was still possible.