Phone Betting Decline in UK -- The Independent reports that British bookmaker William Hill has experienced a 20 percent decrease in telephone betting since the demise of the attheraces racing network. Telephone betting constitutes 15 percent of the company's total business, and about 75 percent of phone bets are horse racing wagers. Nevertheless, William Hill CEO David Harding isn't discouraged. ". . . It is a storm we can weather, as it means that more people are coming in to our shops," Harding said. Some analysts speculate that other bookies are taking more damage than William Hill. Paul Leyland, an analyst at Seymour Pierce told the paper, "We think there has been an industry-wide decline of at least 20 percent. For some companies, the numbers could be even higher and 40 per cent is possible. "William Hill, along with Ladbrokes and Coral Eurobet, would like to see the horse race tracks launch a free-to-air channel, but the tracks are currently negotiating subscription ventures that would generate a limited audience, probably of around 30,000 people.
New Microgames -- Turnkey software provider Microgaming has added five new games to its casino suite. Two of them are updated five-reel versions of existing progressive jackpot games, Cash Splash and Major Millions. "Skull Duggery" is a new five-reel video slot with a humorous Caribbean flavor, and Vinyl Countdown is another new five-reel video slot with a retro rock n' roll theme. The new Jacks or Better video poker game has been added to Microgaming's Power Poker suite and lets players play 10 hands at once with a 52-card pack for each hand. King Neptune's Casino and Trident Lounge Casino have already implemented the new Viper-powered additions.
bet365 Poker -- Sports book bet365 is launching a PrimaPoker.com card room, becoming the 24th site on the integrated PrimaPoker network. Powered by Microgaming software, the Prima Poker network combines all of the individually branded card rooms into one massive, seamless network.
Good Neighbors -- Ten more horse racing clubs in the Asian Racing Federation yesterday signed on to the Good Neighbor Policy, pledging to uphold racing integrity and combat illegal offshore betting by refusing bets to residents of other signatory jurisdictions and refraining from marketing wagering services in other signatory jurisdictions without permission. Macau Jockey Club, Mauritius Turf Club, National Horseracing Authority of Southern Africa, Royal Bangkok Sports Club in Thailand, Equestrian and Horse Racing Club (Kingdom of Bahrain), Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club, Manila Jockey Club, Jockey Club of Pakistan, Royal Horse Racing Club (Sultanate of Oman), and the Malayan Racing Association are the 10 additions to the pact. They join the racing clubs of Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and Turkey.
Charitable -- Million-2-1, a UK-licensed games and lottery operator, has stated that it will donate 35 percent of the proceeds from all of its charitable lotteries (15 percent more than is required) to good causes. The company's CEO explains, "The forthcoming Gambling Bill will present consumers with many more choices of who to play with. If we really want to be seen as the people’s choice in the soft gaming market, then just providing the most fun games will not be sufficient. We must also be the most responsible."
Sporting Options -- Betting exchange operator Sporting Options is this week launching its new mobile site that permits customers to place bets through cHTML-enabled browsers, most smart phones, smart communicators and mobile PDAs. The company received its largest monthly commission ever in March and recently announced that it matched 1 million bets for the first time on April 10.
Quoteworthy -- "One of the important things to do is to work closely together and form a betting exchanges' trade body. We're actively discussing that."
-- Andrew Silverman, Betfair's director of public affairs. New Media Age reported that England's three largest betting exchanges, Betfair, Betdaq, and Sporting Options, could soon form an a trade association in order to counter the joint scrutiny's committee's suggestions that certain betting exchange customers be subject to stricter regulations and higher taxes.