Ladbrokes Financials -- British bookmaker Ladbrokes has ventured into betting on financial markets by introducing a new fixed-odds betting service called "Ladbrokes Financials." The product was developed in association with Cantor Index and has already undergone an eight-week trial. It enables punters to make wagers on performance within the Dow Jones Index and FTSE 100 over the period of a trading a day, an hour, or even five minutes. Ladbrokes and Cantor consider the new service a viable alternative to financial spread betting.
Localization -- Xgames Ltd., a division of I-gaming software provider CTXM, has added some of its fixed-odds flash games to six Sportingbet Web sites: ParisPrestige.com, SuperBahis.com, MiaPuesta.com, sb28.com, EuroSportwetten.com and CasinoWelt.com. Xgames says it has tailored the offerings of each of the six sites to be consistent with local themes and languages.
Boss Business -- Gaming software provider Boss Media has signed an agreement to deliver a casino platform to online gaming operator Deutsche Entertainment Group in autumn 2005. Deutsche Entertainment, which already operates Euro888.com and NordCasino.com, will launch another online casino, KaiserCasino.com, as a result of its agreement with Boss.
Race Streaming -- SmartVideo Technologies, a company that provides broadcasting services for live, on-demand and download-and-play video content for mobile customers, and The National Raceline, which provides instant race calls and results via telephone to the racing community, have formed a revenue sharing partnership to stream live horse racing to mobile phones from racetracks in the United States.
Successful Appeal -- Britain's Competition Appeal Tribunal has overturned the Office of Fair Trading's April 2004 decision against the British Horseracing Board (BHB) and the Racecourse Association (RCA) by ruling that the 49 members of the RCA did not act anti-competitively when they collectively sold their interactive betting and media rights to the original At The Races consortium for £307 million in May 2001. The tribunal's decision is particularly remarkable because it is the first time a judgment has been made in opposition to the Office of Fair Trading.
Shuffle -- U.S.-based horse race wagering and content provider Youbet.com has appointed its chief operating officer, Gary Sproule, to take over the position of chief financial officer held by Charles Bearchell. Sproule joined Youbet just over three years ago and was instrumental in completing the company's restructuring efforts and financial turnaround. Youbet Chairman Charles Champion will assume the responsibilities of the chief operating officer position.