Impending Battle -- Portugal's Casino Association and the Holy House of Mercy, a charity that maintains a monopoly on lotteries and pari-mutuel betting in the country, are poised to challenge a recently announced partnership that makes BetandWin.com Interactive Entertainment the official sponsor of the Portuguese Professional Football League. The four-year deal calls for the 18-team premiership to be renamed the "betandwin.com League," and Holy House objects to it on the grounds that only Holy House gambling operations may be legally advertised in Portugal. The charity says it intends to pursue legal action.
Business Leader of the Year -- European CEO Magazine has awarded Andrea Wilson, CEO of Bermuda-based e-commerce solutions provider First Atlantic Commerce, with the honor of being "Business Leader of the Year 2005." The award's panel of judges chose Wilson because of "her outstanding contribution to secure and safe eCommerce payment processing transactions." They also stated that "The First Atlantic Commerce model engenders confidence to all those involved in the transaction and therefore drives the wider acceptance, confidence and value of eCommerce." Other candidates for the award included Tony Hayword of BP, Franck Riboud of Danone, Werner Wenning of Bayer, Alfredo Saenz Abad of Banco Santander and Peter Kruse of DHL Express Europe.
888 Target Date -- The launch date for Cassava Enterprises' initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange has been set for Sept. 1. The float is expected to value the company at more than US$1.3 billion.
Acquisition -- Diamond I Inc., a developer of wireless gaming products, will acquire U.K.-based Touchdev Limited for a combination of cash and stock. Touchdev's suite of 12 mobile games--including Texas Hold'em poker--will be integrated into Diamond I's WifiCasino GS wireless hand-held gaming system, which is being marketed to Las Vegas casinos.
Custom-Built Fantasy -- Costa Rica-based Bodog.com has launched a free, custom-built fantasy football game that enables managers to select new teams each week. Each real-world football player is assigned a different cost each week, depending upon is his anticipated performance against the opposing team that week, and managers must keep their teams under a spending cap. Winners are eligible for weekly prizes totaling $8,000.
Temporary Downturn -- A report from financial analysts at UBS Warburg indicates a recent downturn in wagering revenue due to the split racing telecasts in Australia, but suggests that the trend is only temporary and that regular wagering levels should return once viewers get used to there being two different racing channels.
Quoteworthy -- "Shop at Wal-Mart for all your Texas Hold 'Em back-to-school needs!"
- Overhead playing through the public announcement system as an IGN staff member walked through a local Wal-Mart store.