Nat'l Lottery on iTV -- The U.K. National Lottery has launched on Sky Active, giving British players the luxury of buying their lotto tickets from the comfort of their own living room. Up to eight weeks in advance players can pick their own numbers or select the Lucky Dip option for the Lotto drawing every Wednesday and Saturday. Players will be automatically notified if they have won, and the service will credit winnings to the player’s account (unless the win is sufficiently large enough to require being picked up at a regional prize payout center). Following last year’s launch of Lotto, Daily Play, and interactive scratch-cards on the Internet, the iTV project is the latest phase of Camelot's strategy to offer more ways to access the National Lottery’s products. The National Lottery has seen quarter-on-quarter sales growth for the first three quarters of this fiscal year, marking its best performance in four years. Camelot also plans to launch the National Lottery on mobile telephones this year.
Page 3's Girls -- Victor Chandler has partnered with Sun Online to create the Page 3 Casino and Page 3 Poker Room, two new sites targeting a predominantly male audience by featuring the sexy girls and style of the Sun's Page 3. The casino games run on non-download flash technology and feature traditional favorites like blackjack and roulette as well as newer games like Red Dog and Pai Gow Poker.
Social Responsibility -- The Observer reports that U.K. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell's stance on the social responsibility of gambling licensees to fight gambling addiction could entail casinos training their croupiers to identify and remove problem gamblers from the casino floor. "We haven't taken a settled view on this," she said, "but it could include training for staff, evidence that staff are required to exercise this degree of vigilance." Gaming machines may also end up taking a role in the social responsibility policy by cutting out after a certain amount of money has been spent. Along similar lines, online gaming sites could reject credit cards after a certain amount of money has been spent.
Church-TAB Alliance -- Though they often argue different sides of gambling issues, the Uniting Church in Australia and TAB Ltd. have teamed up to announce a joint statement asking Communications Minister Daryl Williams to block a loophole in Australian law that allows betting exchanges to operate. Wesley Mission's Gambling and Financial Counseling Services manager, Reverend Chester Carter, spoke out against the hazards of electronic gambling and called online betting exchanges more akin to poker machines than to traditional bookmakers. He said the 90 percent of the gamblers treated by his organization use poker machines instead of racing-based gambling, which he says has a lower risk since bets take longer to place and require more skill. "The thing that fuels electronic gambling is instant gratification," said Carter. "Betting on anything electronic is where the problem is." Carter is also worried that if the exchanges are banned in Australia then the local TABs will be forced to launch their own exchanges, making access to exchanges even more readily available.
Quoteworthy -- "I personally don't think Carruthers stands a chance against me. My recent trip to Cambodia has certainly aided in my development and will to survive under pressure packed situations."
-BoDog.com's CEO Cole Turner, who will take on BetonSports.com's CEO David Carruthers in a Sumo Match in Toronto at the Global Interactive Gaming Summit & Expo in three weeks. A Bodog.com press release listed Carruthers as the favorite at -140, while Turner was listed as even. According to Bodog President Rob Gillespie, "We let BetonSports handicap the showdown between our two offices. However, we feel they were a little aggressive in how heavy a favorite they made Carruthers. Our Handicappers are very worried about the extra pressure they have put on their guy and that is reflected in the odds for the "chicken prop." The chicken prop Gillespie refers to is a special prepositional bet on whether either of the competitors will back out of the fight. Bodog.com lists long odds for Turner to back out (20/1), while the odds on Carruthers backing out are 5/1.