Streaking Not Allowed? -- Mark Roberts, the famous GoldenPalace.com streaker who crashed the Super Bowl this year, will be tried before a jury of six people for a misdemeanor trespassing charge in Houston on June 21. Roberts' lawyer intends to argue that no one informed him that he could not step onto the field. If convicted, Roberts could face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.
I-Gaming Addictions Growing -- Eileen Fahey, director of Aiseiri addiction centers in Ireland, told the Irish Independent that Internet gambling addictions are growing more common, now constituting as much as ten percent of the addictions treated by the Aiseiri centers. According to Fahey, "Often a family is unaware of the extent of debt involved until someone knocks on the door to re-possess their home."
Tax-free -- Irish Betting group Gamebookers (www.gamebookers.ie) has received an Irish bookmakers license, becoming the first Irish sports-betting company to offer tax-free telephone and Internet betting. All bets placed with Gamebookers terminate in Ireland, and the Gamebookers says it plans to target the Irish market to transform itself from an offshore bookmaker into an onshore one. Spokesman Ed Lee said, "Up to now every so-called 'Irish' online bookmaker has terminated Irish punters' bets abroad so the Irish exchequer has not benefited from the many millions bet by Irish punters online. Gamebookers.ie will maintain tax-free betting, but by absorbing the Irish betting levy on behalf of our customers, in effect keeping Irish punters' money in the country. This is a very exciting development for gamebookers and for the online sports betting industry in Ireland. I hope it will herald some much overdue sensible legislation on taxation and online betting in Ireland, bringing us in line with the UK model. This would create a level playing field and discourage many Irish bookmakers from lining the UK exchequer's coffers rather than our own."
SuperToto -- Expekt.com, Unibet, and Globet.com, have teamed up to offer bettors Supertoto, a pools betting service licensed in Gibraltar by a jointly owned company called Monnet Ltd. In a game of Supertoto, the player predicts the results of 14 matches from the best football leagues in Europe. Players can win by correctly guessing 11, 12, 13 or 14 matches, and the total prize money is dependent upon the size of the pool. Another European sports book is expected to join the Supertoto venture in the near future.
eCOGRA Seals -- e-Commerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA), has awarded 16 more online casinos with seals of approval. International auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has extensively inspected each casino to ensure that it upholds eCOGRA's strict requirements on operational efficiency, fair gaming and player protection. eCOGRA granted a first round of approval seals to 23 casinos in February and is currently reviewing another batch of eligible candidates.
Freeserve and Chandler -- Victor Chandler will continue to supply British ISP Freeserve with an end-to-end casino and poker product for another year. The two companies have been partners since November 2002, and their new deal will pledge increased marketing input from both parties.