Sports Dividends -- AllSportsMarket.com, a trading platform that was modeled off of the NASDAQ and allows players to buy and sell stock in sports teams and to receive cash dividend payments, announced that it has nearly completed its public beta testing phase with $3,070,734 in volume. The beta phase will last another six weeks, and until then players can sign up for a free account and 500 beta cash dollars.
Atlantic Lottery -- Michelle Carinci, president of the Atlantic Lottery Corp in Canada, told the Canadian Press that her company's Web site is gathering information about potential gamblers so that it could quickly and easily open up the market if it were to launch an online lottery. The Atlantic Lottery's eClub Rewards site, which has so far logged 24,000 Atlantic Canadians, lets users play games like air hockey and rock-paper-scissors (against a chimp) in exchange for personal information. Carinci said, "If we were to go online, yes certainly we would have a database of players that have already shown an interest . . . that we could open up the market to fairly quickly."
CasinoPhone -- Mobile gaming technology provider Casino Phone Technologies has announced its CasinoPhone product line that is intended to allow land-based casinos, primarily in Europe and Asia, to offer their gambling services to consumers via mobile platform. Users can access the casino network with Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and Samsung Java mobiles, as well as with Microsoft Smartphones, Pocket PCs, and Windows. Casino Phone uses a prepaid card system, and since the casinos control the distribution of the cards, they should experience an increase customer loyalty and prevent access by minors.
Spin -- Ashley Revell-- the 32-year-old London man who sold all of his possessions and then flew to the Plaza Hotel Vegas in Las Vegas to bet it all on a single spin of the roulette wheel--won his spin and collected $270,600. Revell was the subject of a short Sky One reality series that followed him as he sold his belongings, told his friends and family what he planned to do, traveled to Vegas, and of course, gave the wheel a lucky spin. Sky plans to follow him for another month afterward.
VirtGame License -- Nevada's Gaming Control Board has given gaming technology provider VirtGame Corp a recommendation of approval for a non-restricted gaming license as a manufacturer and distributor without any time limitations. The company, which has obtained permission to sell its PrimeLine Race Book to licensed establishments across Nevada, had earlier received a conditional 18-month license in the state.
TAB War -- Both UNiTAB and Tabcorp are expected to raise their bids for New South Wales' Tab Ltd this week. Tabcorp had recently seemed most likely to win the bidding war because the New South Wales racing industry commissioned a study that found it would be $200 million worse off over the life of the agreement if it were to accept UNiTAB's deal. But just last week, the NSW government released its own independent report which stated that UNiTAB's offer would improve racing's situation. A necessary part of either group's merger plan must be that NSW's racing industry is no worse off in the future than it now is. The government's report should prompt.