IAS' TAB -- International All Sports has signed an agreement with PH Holdings Ltd. and Austote Pty Ltd. to acquire Norfolk Island-licensed totalisator AusTote. Established two years ago, AusTote is unique in that it is entirely Internet-based and offers commission rates as low as 2 percent (compared to the 17 percent deductions applied by traditional Australian totalisators). It has nevertheless struggled to gain customers because it has lacked the funding to advertise properly--a shortfall that should be remedied by this week's acquisition. IAS will provide an initial sum of AU$250,000 and a further amount of $250,000 in one year in exchange for no less than 76 percent of the shares of AusTote. AusTote's current CEO, Mike King, will be retained to manage the business.
Hedging Down Under -- When presenting information to Parliament, Tasmanian Greens racing spokesperson Kim Booth did not name the on-course bookmaker he claims to have caught hedging bets via a computer connected to betting exchange Betfair, but he has reportedly named the bookmaker in a letter he wrote to Racing Minister Jim Cox. Tony Murray, the director of racing in Tasmania, has launched a formal inquiry into the matter to determine whether anything illegal has taken place and whether any bets were registered with Betfair during the race meeting in question. Any licensed on-course bookmaker who places bets on Tasmanian races via an off-course operator may be in breach of its license. Murray says that such action is clearly a violation of the Racing Regulation Act when the bets are on thoroughbred horse races, although there may bit a bit of gray area concerning the application of the law to wagering on pacers and harness racing. Betfair spokesperson Andrew Twaits has stated that his company is happy to cooperate with the investigation.
Quoteworthy -- "If anyone's losing money because of the bots, it's the players. It's inevitably going to become a serious problem when they figure out that bots win hundreds of thousands of dollars per year."
- Kurt Lange, CEO of Poker Academy, a company that produces poker training software. Lange's comments appear in an article on Wired News that discusses the infiltration of bots in online poker rooms.
A New Way -- The Russian Patent Office has approved the application of a gaming system called "Roulabet" that enables players to participate in live casino table games via video-streaming to remote locations. Rather than using the Internet, the system uses a combination of digital satellite and digital cable technology.
Ten Percent Pledge -- British bookmaking giant Ladbrokes has pledged to deliver 10 percent of its gross profits from British horseracing back to the racing industry after the current method of statutory payment ends in 2009. CEO Chris Bell believes the country's other major bookmakers would probably follow suit, assuming they agree on an appropriate system for a levy replacement. Bell, like many others, believes that the replacement will likely be a system whereby bookmakers pay for the use of live pictures and data.
Focusing on Japan -- Gibraltar-based online gambling operator Carmen Media Group has increased its focus on the Japanese market by introducing Japanese-language telephone support for its one-year-old Gaming Club Japan Web site. The company has also launched a Japanese version of its corporate Web site.
Nine.com -- Costa Rica-based online gaming operator Nine.com has signed a deal with British software provider VS Gaming whereby VS Gaming will provide Nine.com with a soft gaming suite. Nine.com is the result of a measure undertaken by the GCS Group, which last month merged all of its Internet-based properties--Betcom, My Bookie, Parlaybook and Sportsbook 911-- into a single, easy-to-remember brand. At the moment, all four of the sites appear to operate exactly as they did before the emergence of Nine.com. The Quebec Gazette recently reported that Nine.com has offered to sponsor the college tuition of a baseball fan who jumped onto the security netting at Yankees Stadium a couple weeks ago.
DDoS Counterattack -- German online gambling site jaxx.de (operated by Fluxx AG), says it has been receiving threats of a DDoS attack since Sunday. Rather than pay the 40,000 euros demanded, the company is offering the same amount to anyone who can bring the perpetrators to justice. The company says it has been working with the Federal Criminal Police Office and the German Bureau for Security in Information Technology toward finding the extortionists, who are believed to be located in Ukraine.
Why Bet at the Track? -- TCBets.com, a Costa Rica-based betting company, recently a 35-by-100-foot banner that says "Why bet at the track?" around the vicinity of the Saratoga Raceway in New York in an effort to promote its Web site as well as the benefits of wagering with offshore bookmakers. Not only does the company plan to fly the banner over several other tracks in the United States, but in the near future it intends to bid on the New York Racing Association franchise, which expires in 2007.
CYOP Bingo -- Online gaming software and games portal operator CYOP Systems International Inc. has launched an alpha version of its online bingo game on the Web site of its U.K.-based subsidiary, Red Felt Software. The company will license the bingo software as well as launch its own bingo portal, which it will market directly to new players and those already in its SkillArcade.com database.