Names and Faces -- The two gubernatorial candidates in Kentucky are split on the issue of gambling. Republican Ernie Fletcher opposes gambling on the grounds of social ramifications, but Democrat Ben Chandler said on Friday if elected he would push the General Assembly to let voters decide whether to legalize expanded gaming at race tracks.
US News -- Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius appointed 15 members to a Gambling Committee to determine the benefits and practicality of legalizing gambling within the state. The governor stated, "I believe thousands of Kansans are going out of state to pursue a recreation that they enjoy and in the course of that the state of Kansas is losing millions of dollars in gaming revenue to our sister state of Missouri."
Kansas currently permits pari-mutuel wagering, bingo games offered by nonprofit groups, and casino gambling on its four American Indian reservations. . . . Tampa, Fla. detectives on Friday raided an "adult arcade," which they said was really a mini-casino with 62 video slot machines. Chief Deputy David Gee said, "These particular games are billed as skill-related, but in reality they are games of chance." Police confiscated all 62 gaming machines and arrested four people on felony charges for illegal gambling. No customers were present during the raid.
Quoteworthy -- "Every time any form of gambling is legalized in any way, it always expands beyond what the original plan was. Unless you prohibit everything, it is impossible to write a gambling statute that is not ambiguous, that does not leave the door cracked open for some new entrepreneur," says Nelson Rose, a professor specializing in gaming laws, commenting on a new card game variation of craps that has been invented at Harrah’s Rincon Casino, near San Diego where craps is illegal.
UK News -- The Premiere League has granted BskyB all live football rights, but Mario Monti, the European Competition Minister, might decide otherwise. Last year Brussells thought the way rights were sold resembled price-fixing, so this year the Premiere League divided the rights into four packages. A spokesman for Monti said, "We want to see that there was genuine competition per package. Competition has not been introduced because the live rights are still with one broadcaster. We will ask the Premier League to provide information on how the bidding took place and how many bids were received per package.". . . . New Media Age reports that beginning September 1, Isle of Man bookmakers will be able to advertise in the UK. Until recently, only online bookmakers who had a physical presence in the UK were permitted to advertise there, but the Isle of Man has become exempt by raising its tax rates on bets from the UK up to the same level as the UK—15 percent. All other international bets will remain taxed at the same rate of 1.5 percent, however.
Betinternet, the only bookmaker on the Isle of Man without a UK presence, is the only one to be affected by the change and says it will launch a six figure ad campaign in the fall.
Making Deals -- UK newspaper, the Sun, is taking its Dream Team Fantasy Football game to BskyB’s Sky Digital Network. Last year 45 percent of the 400,000 entries came from online and Sky Digital will make Dream Team available to over 7 million subscribers. . . . Footyflutter, scheduled to launch this week, lets football bettors place wagers with a combined web and interactive voice-response system. When bettors dial a premium rate number, the call charge becomes their stake and they record their bet at the IVR service. Users claim winnings at the Footyflutter website.