State Lottery Study -- Cincinnati, Ohio-based company Games Inc., which operates a games and lottery news Web site at www.lottery.com, recently commissioned the Economics Center for Education and Research at the University of Ohio to conduct an economic impact study of the effects of putting the Ohio Lottery online. Researchers concluded that online lottery tickets in the state could add $1.18 billion in lottery sales over five years. For four years Games Inc. has been lobbying the governments of Ohio and other states to become a lottery retailer. The company argues that the $1.2 billion from online gaming would yield $376 million toward education, but at the moment neither Ohio's governor nor its lottery officials are interested in going online.
Gaming Corporation -- Gaming Corp, which owns the popular casino portal at www.casino.co.uk, has launched several new online casinos as part of a new affiliate marketing strategy. The company will launch Casino Ireland on www.casino.ie, a site that already has an existing customer database and effective search engine placement. Casino Wheel, www.casinowheel.co.uk also has a customer base already in place, and its owner will promote the site in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. Gaming Corp has also provided two themed casinos, Formula 1 Casino and Grand National Casino, while a third, World Cup Casino, will launch soon. By building and operating proprietary special-interest casino Web sites, the company avoids the need for expensive marketing and encourages affiliate sites to promote the casinos in exchange for revenue share agreements. Justin Drummond, chief executive of Gaming Corp, said, "Our business model has a fixed cost base and as such future growth will be driven by our ability to recruit new players with innovative new products in a cost effective way. It is our intention to launch several new affiliate casinos each month. These will be branded casino websites promoted by an experienced commission driven affiliate sales team." Meanwhile, The Independent reported today that Gaming Corp is negotiating the purchase of an Israeli software house. The company current relies on software licensed from Boss Media, but acquiring a software division would enable Gaming Corp to diversify its product offering. Gaming Corp has about £500,000 in cash, but it is likely that the takeover would be funded by new equity.
Belgian Stats -- Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal (Rvi) in Belgium reported that the country's Gaming Commission estimates that Belgians spent 27 million euros on Internet gambling last year. Rvi also reported that the country has around 150,000 citizens with gambling addictions. Over 1,000 gamblers have registered with the Gaming Commission to have themselves banned from land-based casinos.
College Tourney -- Lou Krieger, a professional poker player and the author of Poker for Dummies and Internet Poker, has received sponsorship funds from Royal Vegas Poker to offer the first annual College Poker Championship. Entry into the tournament is free and open to all college students worldwide who are enrolled between January and June of 2004. The tournament kicked off Jan. 25, with qualifying rounds being played every Sunday at 2 p.m. EDT for the following 18 weeks. Each week, $500 is awarded in prize money and 30 students advance to the semifinal round. The top 200 will then compete in the final event on June 6 for a grand prize of $50,000 cash and a $10,000 donation to the winner's charity of choice.
Chimera Adds Another -- Nevada-based software supplier Chimera Technology Corp has signed a third licensee, Pan-Caibbean Holdings Inc. A due diligence period is required before the license is actually granted, and in the next few weeks Chimera and Caribbean Holdings will work together to customize the theme, domain name, and other elements of the new gaming site. Chimera also announced that the Web site of its second licensee, BetVooDoo.com, is nearly completed and will launch as soon as the final Web site audit is completed.
Charity Tournament -- When only three people remained competing for the $25,000 prize in the UltimateBet.com Charity Poker Tournament, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott suggested that each of the three remaining players narrow the prize money to $10,000 by awarding $5,000 to each player's charity of choice. In the end Norm Daniels president and CEO of G.I. Joe's won $5,000 for the Portland State University Foundation, columnist Jonathan Nicholas obtained $5,000 for the Cycle Oregon Fund, and radio personality Dave Anderson delivered first place and $15,000 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Oregon.