Quoteworthy -- "To me it is an electronic bookmaker and to pretend it should not exist is fine in a country where bookmakers don't exist and there is a pool monopoly. But if you are in a country where you have bookmakers running alongside the Tote, to me it is a smart new modern form of bookmaking. I don't think it is a question of banning it, but of regulating and managing it, and making sure it pays a fair share to racing."
--Martin Broughton, the British Horseracing Board's new chair, giving his opinion of Internet betting exchanges to the London Telegraph.
Warning -- Nausicaa Delfas, the head of the British Financial Services Authority's financial promotions department, has written a letter to spread betting companies warning them to quit targeting uninformed punters who do not understand the risk of spread betting. The FSA is apparently concerned about the growing number of people using services that were once almost exclusive to Londoners who were experienced at betting on market movements. Delfas' letter accuses spread betting firms of disguising the fact that bettors could lose more than their original stake if the market does not perform well. City Index, one of the largest spread betting companies, welcomes the letter. Tom Hougaard, chief market strategist for City Index, said "It's about time, we feel that some companies are getting away with murder."
Sports Betting in Spain -- Spain's Professional Football League (LFP) and Indra Sistemas have teamed up to create a sports betting platform that could be deployed via Internet, mobile device, and interactive TV. Called the Technological Platform for Sports Betting (TPSP), the system could be used for a number of sports and could potentially be in use by next soccer season in Spain. Representatives from the LFP, the State Lottery, and the Government's Sport Board have already met with officers of the Treasury Department to discuss creating an agency to manage TPSP.
Medal Betting -- Northern Territory, Australia-licensed bookmaker Centrebet is taking bets on gold medal finishes for every single sporting event in the Athens Olympics. It is also offering 25-1 odds that New Zealand will not win a medal of any color.
Mobile Filter -- At the beginning of July, Vodafone introduced Britain's first filtering system for adult content on mobile devices, but the system ended up wrongly blocking several sites that did not contain adult material. The problem was fixed in a little over one week, but many content providers and mobile aggregators were left angry. Several sites lost money due to being blocked, and others felt that Vodaphone seemed more concerned about minimizing public relations damage rather than with correcting the problem, according to New Media Age. A Vodaphone spokesperson now says, "We did experience some teething problems with the launch of Vodafone Content Control, which lasted for a couple of days while we identified and resolved all of the instances. The process by which the incorrectly blocked sites are reviewed has now been streamlined and we have received no further complaints. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused." With more mobile operators expected to implement similar adult content blocking policies in the UK, content providers are wary that the same thing could happen again.
Research Coverage -- Gaming & Entertainment Group, Inc, a company that provides server-based gaming systems and downloadable games, announced that The Research Works, Inc, has initiated research coverage of the company by publishing a report that is available at ww.stocksontheweb.com/gmei.pdf. Research Works is an equity research firm that attempts to help undervalued small companies achieve fair value by producing paid research reports grounded in fundamental analysis and equity valuation models.