BlueSquare -- Online poker solutions company Tribeca Tables has signed a deal to provide Blue Square with an online poker room. Blue Square's poker room will launch in early September, and its players will be aggregated into a larger network with players from Victor Chandler Worldwide, Golden Palace and Kinsdale Holdings. Tribeca Tables is in negotiations to add more major brands to the network, which is operated by U.K.-based Apex Poker. Blue Square recently launched its no-download casino with software from Wagerworks at www.Bluesqcasino.com, and the Rank-owned company is rumored to be finalizing a purchase of the Sporting Options betting exchange.
Powered by Microgaming -- Online gaming operator Vegas Partner Lounge will launch a new Canadian online casino Sept. 1. The site will be tailored to the needs of Canadian players and will enable customers to pay in Canadian dollars. The group has not yet announced the name of the casino and is holding a contest to see if anyone can guess its name. Already operating seven other Microgaming-powered casinos with eCOGRA certification, Vegas Partner Lounge hopes the Canadian site also will receive the eCOGRA seal once it has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Aztec Riches casino group has launched a poker room at www.Poker-Metro.com. Licensed in Kahnawake, the site is powered by Microgaming software and is part of the Prima Poker network.
Quoteworthy -- "We at AusTOTE are the first totalisator operation to recognize that such a business can be run with much lower overheads than the traditional TAB using advances in technology. We are, therefore, able to offer volume related commission rates in the range of 2-5 percent, with the punter enjoying the benefit of higher dividends."
- Mike King, CEO of AusTOTE, a Norfolk Island-licensed totalisator. King today issued a two-page statement faulting the Australian Racing Board's resistance to adopting a new funding structure to address new technology that can reduce the cost of doing business. The inevitable result, argues King, is that "wagering on racing is becoming increasingly less attractive than sports betting or even poker machines." He added, "We believe that taking advantage of technology to improve returns to punters is racing's answer to competing with other forms of wagering. Regrettably, instead of recognizing and adapting to the evolving low cost wagering phenomenon, the Australian racing industry's answer appears to be to invoke draconian restrictions on punters' freedom of choice. . . . In 2004 the choice is between racing and dozens of other alternatives, many of them just as compelling, easier to understand, and all of them legal. By erecting artificial barriers to prevent people betting where they will, all racing will do is to make itself even less appealing to the X-generation punter it so badly needs to attract."
Welcome Aboard -- Meg Tiveus is retiring from Swedish gaming operator Svenska Spel after serving as CEO for seven years, and the company has appointed Jesper Kärrbrink to take her place starting Dec. 1. Kärrbrink, 40, has served many top positions in media and information technology and helped launch the Metro daily newspaper in Prague.
New Jersey -- The New Jersey Racing Commission has initiated a 30-day period for public comment on the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority's presentation of an account wagering system for the state. The commission is expected to approve the system on or around Sept. 20, and Internet wagering services could be operating by Oct. 15. A call center will be constructed at the Meadowlands race track, and after its completion punters will be able to wager by phone as well.