Blue Buying Options? -- The Racing Post reports that Blue Square could be on the verge of purchasing betting exchange Sporting Options. Lawyers for the companies are performing due diligence and are unwilling to discuss the matter, but an announcement to the London Stock Exchange could come as early as next week. The Racing Post estimates that the price tag for Sporting Options could be around £4 million. Such a deal would mark the first time a bookmaker has purchased a betting exchange.
Quoteworthy -- "We were pleased to see that the commission did not intend the directive to affect remote gambling. They were very receptive to the fact that a remote casino is one of the last gambling places a money launderer would pursue given that it requires them getting into the banking system through the use of a credit card."
- Andrew Tottenham, chairman of iGGBA, in response to the European Commission's decision not to impose new rules for online gambling operations under its recently proposed Money Laundering Directive. The directive would extend the requirements of "know your customer" identification and verification. Among other things, it would oblige land-based casinos to identify and verify individuals who exchange more than 1,000 euro in chips.
Golden Palace Strikes Again -- Olympic Games organizers have increased security at all athletic venues in Athens after a man wearing a blue tutu and clown shoes climbed onto a diving board during a synchronized diving competition, perched for a moment, dove into the pool and swam for several minutes until security fished him out. The trespasser, 31-year-old Ron Bensimhon of Canada, of course had "GoldenPalace.com" written across his chest and back. Bensimhon is the same man who crashed the women's world figure skating championships in Dortmund, Germany this year wearing similar attire and tattoos.
Skybetting on 4 -- A deal between Skybet and Channel 4's interactive arm, 4Interactive, will enable viewers of Channel 4 Racing to bet on races with a platform that is a significant improvement on the version offered by the old Attheraces. The service's picture-in-picture format will enable iTV users to access a betting screen without missing the live action. Punters can wager on a number of propositions, including win-only, each-way, forecasts, tricasts and accumulators. Placing a bet should only take about 20 seconds once an account has been established. The service is expected to go live on Saturday.
Easy Filter Tools -- Microsoft and the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) have teamed up to released a free add-in tool for Microsoft's Web page creator application, Office Front Page 2003. The new tool enables Web site authors to easily add ICRA content labels to web pages so that various content filtering tools will be able to restrict children from accessing adult-orientated web pages. The ICRA Content Rating Add-in can be downloaded from Microsoft for free.
Google IPO Betting -- SportsBook911.com temporarily suspended over/under bets on the Google IPO after receiving floods of wagers from California and New York bet that the price would be under $110. "The reality is that the general public does not usually buy stocks over $100, which we think will severely reduce the possible investor pool. Therefore, there will not be enough buyers to support that price," said Mike Nickels, president of GC Sports Group, the company that runs the site. "Given the financial connections of people in those two cities, we quickly recognized that we needed to change our wagering structure to level the playing field and make this more of a challenge for our customers who will have a way to make money on the Google IPO without having to actually buy a share." The sport book has reopened a revised betting platform for the Google IPO that includes five price points with varying odds for opening and closing prices.