Virginia Betting -- The state of Virginia's racing commission yesterday approved the advance deposit wagering license applications of TV Games Network and XpressBet, thereby enabling satellite television customers in the state to wager on the races they've been able to view at home for several years. The commission also renewed the license for CDPhonebet, a Colonial Downs product that's managed by The Racing Channel. Virginia began regulating account wagering in 2003.
Gambling Research -- Family and Community Services Minister Kay Patterson has announced that the Australian federal government will commit $3 million to establishing a national research institute on problem gambling. The institute's work will play an important role in future gambling policy decisions, and the state of Victoria is now favored to be the headquarters of the institute.
Live on Blue Square -- British bookmaker Blue Square has purchased the broadcasting rights to this weekend's SAP Open professional tennis tournament in California. The company will provide live streaming video of the event on its Web site in addition to full in-running wagering. Blue Square has also secured broadcast rights to stream several World Cup qualifying football matches on its Web site, and earlier this year it attracted over 6,000 users for its live webcast of a darts contest in Holland. The abundance of live televised sporting events is no doubt a main driver in the growth of interactive betting, yet many high-profile events are still not accessible via TV. If Blue Square's experiments prove successful, the company could begin broadcasting more events over the Internet in the future. "This is very much a toe-in-water thing," company spokesman Ed Pownall said. "If it goes well, we might expand on the idea very quickly. This is the tip of the iceberg of what we have planned."
Pay-for-Content -- Interactive Games, Inc., a company whose main business is developing and licensing slot machines and other technologies for land-based Native American casinos, has announced the launch of its new mobile gaming division and Web site (igmobilegames.com), from which three games can be downloaded onto cellular phones for free. The company is developing play-for-free casino content and multi-player games that it hopes will eventually work under a pay-for-content model that can be bundled with cellular providers under a subscription model added to the user's cell phone bill. Interactive Games has formed a strategic alliance with Via-Cell Inc., a Florida-based developer of cell phone games and debit card and stored value solutions.
German Football -- Meeting for an extraordinary session in response to the recent match-fixing scandal, Germany's Football Association (DFB) representatives today agreed upon a new code of conduct that would ban players, coaches, referees and officials from betting on football matches. The DFB has also decided against punishing referee Robert Hoyzer 50,000 euro, feeling instead that his lifetime ban from the sport is severe enough. Both the DFB and the German Soccer League (DFL) have signed rolling contract with betting security firm Betradar, which has over 100 betting offices under its monitoring system, to work more closely with bookmakers in the future in identifying suspicious betting patterns. Germany will host the World Cup in 2006.
On the Premises -- Wireless communications solutions company Diamond I, Inc. has launched its new Web site (diamonditech.com), which provides a preview of its WiFiCasino GS hand-held Wi-Fi based gaming system. The WiFiCasino GS system is designed to enable patrons to gamble remotely from anywhere on the premises of a casino, cruise ship or race track, including from the patron's room or the bar or pool area. The system can also extend beyond gambling applications, allowing patrons to surf the Internet, obtain resort information, order drinks and meals and access concierge services.
Backgammon -- British skill gaming systems provider GameAccount is supplying Irish bookmaker Paddy Power with a multiplayer backgammon game equipped with seamless login, real-time exchange rates and multiple languages.
Roulette Diagnostics -- CWC Gaming (Casino Webcam), an I-gaming solutions provider whose products enable customers to wager on live action at an actual land-based casino in Costa Rica via streaming webcast transmissions, has installed the TCSJOHNHUXLEY Roulette Wheel Analysis solution, which spots bias and trends so casino managers can easily check the performance of any roulette wheel at any time. Winning number data is automatically and securely collected through the TCSJOHNHUXLEY Reader Head-a software program that instantly converts data into various reports, such as individual number bias, wheel sector bias, performance change, spin speed and table performance.
Welcome Abaord -- Youbet.com has appointed Christina Myers to the position of vice president of strategic marketing. Myers, who has extensive experience in online, direct and database marketing with major gaming organizations, will oversee the coordination of all marketing functions at Youbet. She has been charged with developing data-driven marketing initiatives to increase revenues from Youbet's new and existing advanced deposit wagering accounts. . . . Simon Noble, former CEO of Intertops and BetWWTS, has joined online betting company Pinnacle Sports. Noble is returning to the world of sports betting after a five-month stint with English Harbour, an online casino group, as executive vice president of business development. "I have joined Pinnacle and the simple reason is that I just missed the sports too much," Noble told InfoPowa News. "I guess after 15 years as a bookmaker it's in the blood."