Casino.com Rumor -- Joe Coughlin, product development manager for Victor Chandler, has officially denied rumors that his company has acquired the Casino.com gaming portal from Boss Media. Boss sold the popular site, along with Gold Club Casino, to an undisclosed buyer last year. The site hasn't changed much since the sale. Victor Chandler operators a bingo site using software from Boss Media.
William Hill and iTV -- British bookmaker William Hill has appointed marketing firm Poulter Group to market its digital betting TV channel. Poulter, one of four companies bidding for the contract, will get £250,000 for the first year. The new channel, to go live on Sky in October, will cover a range of sporting events and feature betting opportunities, random numbers games and virtual racing. Poulters' marketing support for the channel's launch will include online activity, in-store communication and direct mail.
Kelly's Coup -- Russ Phillips will become the deputy chief executive for the Association of British Bookmakers starting Nov. 1, 2004. Phillips, who will work under Tom Kelly, has spent the last four years with Office of Fair Trading. He will join the association after compiling the OFT's 200-page Rule 14 notice, which outlined the department's conclusions following its investigation into racing. The notice was published in April 2003. The British Horseracing Board claimed victory in its negotiations with the OFT in June this year, and Kelly is celebrating his coup in successfully landing Phillips.
eCOGRA and PWC -- Officials with eCOGRA, the voluntary regulatory I-gaming trade group, announced a partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers to research and provide a series of policy papers geared toward I-gaming operators. The reports will be made available for free to all eCOGRA members. The fist report will focus on security of information issues.
iGGBA and Channel 1 -- Channel 1 Games this week became the newest member of iGGBA's growing list of members. The company, part of the Games Media Group, is a new business specializing in content development and publishing for a range of games and gaming platforms. iGGBA's membership, which started with 10 founding members nearly two years ago, has grown to 48.
Tilt -- Plans are underway at U.S.-based all-sports network ESPN to launch an original drama series based in Las Vegas with gambling as the central theme. The new show, "Tilt," will piggyback off the network's coverage of the World Series of Poker and will take a similar approach to gambling and Las Vegas that the show "Playmakers" did to the National Football League. Tilt will begin airing in mid January on Thursday nights.