Premiership Sponsorhip -- British gaming company Sportech PLC, owners of Liverpool-based Littlewoods Football Pools, today announced a six-figure gaming sponsorship deal with Liverpool's Everton Football Club, making Sportech Everton's official football gaming partner for the 2006-2007 Premiership season. The deal covers an online and offline sponsorship package and marketing initiatives to promote the company's gaming portfolio, which includes the Football Pools, Spot The Ball and the company's online casino, poker and bingo products. The company will also sponsor and facilitate a range of official Everton gaming facilities, including a match day Spot the Ball competition, a dedicated weekly gaming section on evertonfc.com, sponsorship of Everton's Predictor Game and a series of communications to the club's databases.
Still this Tattersall's/UNiTAB Saga -- UNiTAB Ltd. CEO Dick McIlwain said he would consider heading up a merged UNiTAB/Tattersall's Ltd. if that were what it would take to get the gaming companies' merger to move forward. Under the proposal, Tattersall's CEO Duncan Fischer would lead the company, but major UNiTAB shareholders are reportedly in favor of McIlwain holding the position. He said he would consider staying on if Tattersall's decided that was required to secure support for the deal. "We're committed to the merger agreement," McIlwain said. "(But) if Tattersall's think that it's necessary to make that change to get the deal across the line, we'll consider that. It's not up to me really." UNiTAB shareholders met in Brisbane today to vote on the proposed merger of equals, but postponed the vote to Sept. 12 to allow the companies to amend the proposal and to allow details of the revised scheme to be mailed out.
At the Helm -- Sports betting company Interactive Gaming Holdings (IGH), which runs Malta-based Heathorns and London-based Premierbet, has hired the former top man at the Tote as its new chief executive. John Heaton led the Tote from 1996 to 2004, doubling profits and overseeing the introduction of its Web betting operations. He said he is taking the new role because he sees great potential in IGH's online offering. Heaton moves from overseeing the Tote's 530 high street betting offices and an Internet business with 70,000 registered users to IGH's 15,000 registered users on two Web sites.
Fun Fantasy -- Online casual games provider Fun Technologies Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Fanball UK Limited, on Saturday launched its first-ever "Fantasy Football Challenge" for the Premiership. "The Premiership, The Fantasy Football Challenge" offers four ways to play the game: two season-long games and two weekly games. For the season-long games, one version costs £5 to enter and features more than £300,000 in prizes. The other is a free-play version and features prizes that include a 42" HD widescreen TV, an Xbox 360 and gift certificates. For the weekly games, players can pay £1, and play for cash prizes, of which one in five will win, or play a free-play version that awards gift certificates and cash prizes.
Bhargava's Sirius Endeavor -- Vikrant Bhargava, one of the founders of PartyGaming, is moving into another moneymaking industry by backing a new hedge fund of funds firm called Sirius launching next month. He is rumored to also be a director of the new Gibraltar-based investment company. Bhargava and fellow founders Anurag Dikshit, Ruth Parasol and Russell DeLeon in June 2006 sold millions of shares in PartyGaming only a year after its flotation on the London Stock Exchange.