Mia Puesta -- U.K.-based betting bookmaker Sportingbet has launched a Spanish online betting service at www.miapuesta.com. The site will be operated out of the United Kingdom.
Web Snare -- U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced on Thursday that U.S. authorities have arrested over 100 cyber crime suspects and filed 117 criminal complaints for various acts of online fraud since June 1. Ashcroft said the effort, dubbed "Operation Web Snare," was "the largest and most successful collaborative law-enforcement operation ever conducted to prosecute online fraud, stop identity theft and prevent other computer-related crimes." The 160 cases investigated in Operation Web Snare involved 150,000 victims and over $215 million worth of losses. Ashcroft also stated, "The common thread here is the Internet. We do not believe the Internet to be off-base for law enforcement. We will be there with as much intensity and presence as we can muster." None of the cases involved online gambling services.
Match Fixing -- The Italian Football League's disciplinary commission delivered several punishments Wednesday following its investigation into illegal betting and match fixing by players and officials. Six players from the country's top two divisions have been officially banned for periods ranging from five months to three years. The most noteworthy ban was put upon Stefano Bettarini, a Sampdoria defender whose wife is a presenter of one of Italy's top soccer television shows. Bettarini was banned for five months while the Sampdoria club was fined 15,000 euros. Other clubs--Como, Pescara and Siena--were also handed small fines. Two officials for Siena were banned from league activities for six months and seven months; its coach was banned for five months, and defender Roberto D'Avera was banned for six months. Series B club Modena received a five-point deduction, which it will incur at the beginning of next season.
Quoteworthy -- "In the last Olympics we saw only £100,000 staked on the whole thing. This year we have taken that on one part of the shot put event."
- Chris Hill, managing director of Ladbrokes.
Z4P Deal -- Israel-based multi-platform I-gaming applications and solutions provider Zone4Play has signed a marketing and distribution agreement with Bluestreak Technology Inc, whereby Bluestreak will integrate Zone4Play's iTV game packages into its interactive TV platform called DEM (Digital Entertainment Middleware). Bluestreak already has a deal with Time Warner Cable to launch DEM in the United States to a market that could potentially be as large as 10.9 million subscribers in 27 states. Zone4Play has provided four different packages for the venture: a play-for-fun casino games package, a multi-player package that includes Texas Hold'EM, a skill games package based on an exclusive agreement with Game Universe's Skill Jam and a Slingo package.
Upgrades in NZ -- The New Zealand Lotteries Commission has been allocated $43.4 million for capital spending in 2004-05 and 2005-06. Chief executive Trevor Hall says more than half the money will be used to purchase a new gaming system and management information system. Last month the commission released requests for proposals for contracts to overhaul its IT systems, and firms from New Zealand, Europe and the United States are in the bidding. The commission wants to replace its back-end gaming software with one that will include published application programming interfaces (APIs) to enable the sale of the Lotteries Commission products via mobile phone and interactive TV.
Anonymous Tip -- The Australian reported that Australian Federal Police paid a visit to the Sydney home of Betfair's Mark Davies in April to investigate a tip they received claiming that Davies was running an illegal online gambling operation from his home. The cops left after a brief round of questions revealed that the tip was false.