NZ Lotto -- The New Zealand Lotteries Commission and GTECH Global Services Corporation have signed a contract whereby GTECH will replace New Zealand's entire line of 1,450 Lotto terminals with more modern products. GTECH will also upgrade the new terminal network to Internet protocol and supply the terminals with Web interface support. The network replacement should be completed around the middle of 2006, and soon after GTECH will begin introducing remote gaming products that New Zealanders can play from home over the Internet. The total cost of the systems renewal program is estimated to be around $40 million over the life of the nine-year contract.
Mobile Lots -- News Media Lottery Services Inc, a company that supplies lotteries with digital lottery technology and management support, has signed a deal with wireless platform software developer Phantom Fiber Corporation whereby Phantom Fiber will enable NMLS's suite of lottery games to be operated through mobile lottery terminals. NMLS will use mobile lottery terminals in retail and public locations to sell lottery tickets to consumers in a number of select markets. The company says it plans to offer dozens of video lottery games plus multi-million-dollar progressive jackpots in contracted countries across mobile, Internet and retail channels and also plans to partner with charity lotteries in many markets to gain first-mover advantage.
QArea -- Ukrainian mobile software designer QArea has completed the development of a wireless casino product and has begun testing it on mobile devices. The company says its product supports a range of mobile platforms and can easily be converted to most others in less than 30 hours.
Addiction Detection -- European I-gaming operator BetandWin.com has contributed 1 million euro to a three-year joint venture with Harvard Medical School that seeks to use the empirical information that Internet gambling companies obtain to identify problem gambling patterns earlier than previously been possible. The project is also researching new approaches to problem gambling. BetandWin has hired a responsible gaming officer who will liaise with Harvard Medical School and be responsible for developing problem awareness at BetandWin.
Quoteworthy -- ". . . Four guys in a basement talking about chances on sports bets. It will be like Wayne's World."
--Alex Czajkowski, marketing director for Sportsbook.com, explaining to the Financial Times the concept behind a series of 30-minute television programs his company is currently developing.
Speculation -- British newspaper the Sunday Express reports that Cassava Enterprises might try to purchase another large I-gaming operator after its upcoming flotation on the London Stock Exchange this autumn. Citing and unidentified source, the paper stated that PokerStars.com is the most likely target. PokerStars, which recently relocated to the Isle of Man from Costa Rica, has also been rumored to be considering a public offering of its own.
Network Addition -- Curacao-based Check n Raise Poker.com, a subsidiary of publicly traded Canadian software development company Funtime Hospitality Corp, will become a part of Ongame's PokerNetwork by October. The deal with PokerNetwork means Check n Raise Poker players will be able to use either a downloadable or non downloadable version of the poker software and compete with a much larger player base.
New Entrants -- Publicly traded Freestar Technology Corp., a payment processing firm based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, announced that its Helsinki-based subsidiary, Rahaxi Processing Oy, has signed a contract to provide MetropolitanPoker.com with a payment management system and integrate it into Rahaxi's Internet payment gateway. Rahaxi has a Northern European BASE24 credit card processing platform and processes more than 1 million card payments per month for companies such as Finnair, Ikea and Stockman. Metropolitan Poker, based in Curacao, has developed proprietary online poker software and plans to operate a network of sites.