Against Cheating -- Britain's major sports organizations signed a code of conduct Wednesday designed to stamp out the problem of cheating that is said to be deeply embedded in European sports. Under the code, the bodies must include provisions in their rules and regulations governing the behavior of their members in relation to betting, and they will be expected to work closely with the police, the National Criminal Intelligence Service and the Gambling Commission if corrupt practices are discovered. Their members will be expected to avoid any conflict of interest.
Portal News -- German publisher Burda's subsidiary Burda Direct Win GmbH, plans to launch an online portal, bestwetten.de, to offer betting on horse racing beginning June 1. Sports betting will be offered after two months. German gaming software solutions provider, FLUXX AG, developed the portal and will handle the technical services. Burda Direct Win will act purely as an agency for state-licensed bookmakers and will adhere strictly to regulations.*
Mega-Shops -- London-based betting company Betex Group PLC says it will launch football lottery "mega-shops" in China's Guangdong province. It plans to initially open 22 shops, some of which will be open ahead of this year's World Cup, with additional shops opening pending the results of the trial.
And the Winner Is . . . -- It has recently come to light that PartyGaming's board of directors last year shared a $36 million (£20 million) salaries jackpot. Richard Segal, who stepped down Wednesday as CEO, topped the list of breadwinners with a $20.2 million earning, of which only $705,920 was his base pay, and Finance Director Martin Weigold made $8.59 million. Chairman Michael Jackson earned $3.28 million and Brian Larcombe, the non-executive director who heads the remuneration committee, banked $2.02 million.
*IGN reported on April 14 that German publishing company Burda Direct will launch an online portal, bestwetten.de, and will initially offer sports betting, followed by horse betting two months later. It should have read that the portal will offer betting on horses first, followed by sports betting.