Bust -- China's Wenhui Daily reports that police in Shanghai have arrested 24 suspects who are allegedly linked to a Taiwanese online football betting organization that offered services in 22 mainland Chinese provinces. Police confiscated US$120,000 from the individuals and estimated that the gang might have collected up to $10.8 million during one year of operation.
Danes Online -- Borsen Online reports that Denmark's state gambling monopoly, Dansk Tipstjeneste, is considering offering its own online gambling services as a way to combat the growing popularity of foreign Internet-based gambling services. It is estimated that spending by Danish citizens on foreign gambling sites grew from $173 million in 2003 to $268 million in 2004. Henrik Christian Madsen, the manager of Dansk Tipstjeneste, says that the company's board has already given its approval to begin looking at possibilities within the online casino sector and will decide in May whether the company can begin offering casino games online.
Fair Gaming Report -- eCOGRA's (e-Commerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance) fair gaming advocate, Tex Rees, has filed her first-quarter report for 2005, showing that 72 online gamblers filed complaints with eCOGRA, although 24 could not be assisted because their disputes concerned non-eCOGRA casinos. Most of the remaining 48 complaints concerned queries about deposits, while bonus issues were the second most frequent dispute. "So-called 'advantage players' have become increasingly adept at legally exploiting bonus terms and conditions to the maximum," Rees said, "and the construction of promotions, to whom these are offered and the rewards flowing from same need truly expert attention if a casino is to avoid becoming a victim of its own generosity." Seven cases were determined in the player's favor, and cases were solved on average within three days.
ATR Product -- Ladbrokes and At The Races have teamed up to provide a live video stream service at Ladbrokes.com that lets customers watch any At The Races broadcast free of charge once they have placed a minimum £5 bet. "bet and watch" streams through a popup window that's activated two minutes before each race's start time and spans 10 minutes. At The Races is currently negotiating with other bookmakers over the prospect of launching similar products.
On a Roll -- WagerWorks' first interactive television game, "MONOPOLY - On a Roll," has debuted on the Sky Vegas interactive portal on England's Sky digital platform. Based on an Internet-based WagerWorks game by the same name, On a Roll enables players to bet on their favorite properties and then roll the dice to see how much they win. Cash prizes are paid to those who land on their chosen properties or on any one of four bonus spots, including free parking and jail.
Interactive Mobile TV -- Telecommunications supplier Ericsson announced that it has developed a way for an existing interactive TV format to be fully aligned with mobile devices with multimedia capabilities so that viewers can interact with TV shows by using their mobile devices. The company says the solution turns mobile devices into interactive remote controls when the users are sitting in front of TVs. The interactive mobile TV application was developed in cooperation with partners conVISUAL and CTcommunology.
WorldMatch -- Italian football club F.C. Crotone has chosen Malta-based I-gaming software and solutions company WorldMatch to supply its new online casino site, "CasinoCrotone.com." The casino offers Flash games that can be played for free or for real money. WorldMatch, which prides itself on being the only company in the online gambling industry with a license issued by an E.U. member state, has also launched EUVegas.com, GameNetworkCasino.com, ToroGaming.com and AldoCoppolaCasino.com--an online casino branded by international hairstylist Aldo Coppola.