U.S Attorney Says -- The Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri released a statement today responding to BETonSPORTS' announcement that it is closing its Costa Rican and Antiguan offices. The U.S. Attorney's position is that the closure will not affect the prosecution of the civil and criminal actions filed in the Eastern District of Missouri.
Mission Accomlished -- eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA), the online gambling standards and player protection body, has reached its goal of accrediting 100 online casinos and poker rooms long before its target date of December 2006. eCOGRA launched the 100 Seals campaign in May this year with 76 accredited sites, but the organization has exceeded that number, with 107 "Play It Safe" seals awarded to tier-one online casinos and poker rooms. "Not only is this a major milestone for eCOGRA, these 107 seals signify a major change in the industry in which players are consistently seeking out the 'Play It Safe' seal, and there is a real desire and ability for the industry to self-regulate," said Andrew Beveridge, chief executive of eCOGRA.
PerpetuumPoker -- Swedish gaming operator and software provider 24hPoker announced that its network company B2B Poker has signed a partnership agreement with Antigua-licensed gaming operator Allgames Casinos Ltd. to launch Allgames Casinos' online poker site perpetuumpoker.com, slated for September. Allgames Casinos launched its land-based gaming business in 1997 and went online in 2001. Now it has more than 150,000 registered online players.
Gold Wins WSOP -- Bodog.com-sponsored poker player Jamie Gold won the Main Event of the 2006 World Series of Poker on Thursday. Gold, a former Hollywood agent turned television producer from Malibu, Calif., had an unprecedented chip lead for four days of the tournament, sitting down at the final table with $26,650,000 in chips. He competed against the eight players who remained from a field of 8,773 for an unprecedented first-place prize of $12 million and the coveted gold championship bracelet. Gold now has a two-year endorsement deal with Bodog.com that not only includes the standard tournament buy-ins and promotional appearances, but also a $1 million television production deal. The deal includes a Jamie Gold table on Bodog.com, where Gold will play frequently, enabling other Bodog players to go up against the WSOP champ.
U.S. Data Rights Case -- A St. Louis-based Internet company that runs fantasy sports leagues, defeated a division of Major League Baseball and its players association in a court decision in St. Louis on Tuesday. U.S. District Court Judge Mary Ann Medler ruled that MLB Advanced Media and the players do not retain control over game statistics used by fantasy leagues, such as CDM Fantasy Sports. The company's parent, CBC Distribution and Marketing, filed a lawsuit after being denied a licensing agreement in 2005 by MLB Advanced Media. The ruling states that the statistics used in fantasy baseball - such as batting average, strikeouts and home runs - are in the public domain and thus not under league control. In fantasy sports, participants select and direct teams of pro players. Statistics from actual games are used in varying ways to determine winners and losers. Rudy Telscher, CDM's attorney, said he expects an appeal.
Stock Report -- Online gambling stocks in London seemed to show signs of weakness today after news hit that BETonSPORTS would be closing its Costa Rican and Antiguan operations. Sportingbet lost 26.25p to 243.75p and Neteller ended the day down 19p to 375p. On the Vienna Stock Exchange, BWIN gained EUR 4.29 on the day, closing at EUR 28.99, despite the loss of its German license on Thursday.