Monopoly Study -- Research and consulting firm Media & Entertainment Consulting Network (MECN) has published a report called The European Union and its Impact on State-Licensed Gambling Monopolies which is based on the results of a survey of major gambling market players as well as on analysis of state monopoly activities. Among some of the topics addressed in MECN's report are monopoly efforts to balance profit and social responsibility, cross border offerings, analyses of specific state-licensed monopolies, the Gambelli case, and advertising. The premise of the report seems to be that most signs indicate that state-monopolies will eventually be abolished. MECN says that 59 percent of survey respondents believe that the European gambling market will be liberalized by 2009.
PokerStars Championship -- PokerStars.com, the online poker network that sent the champions of both this year and last year's World Series of Poker to the tournament, has kicked off the PokerStars' World Championship of Online Poker with a record $4 million in prize money gathered for the taking. Running until August 8th, the championship features twelve events. PokerStars is currently setting up $3 satellite tournaments and awarding over half a million dollars in free entries. Otherwise, buy-in costs between $200 for the early events and $2,500 for the No Limit Texas Hold'em finale.
Relaunch of the King -- Kanawake-licensed King Solomon's Online Casino will relaunch later this month with the newest casino software from Real Time Gaming. The new casino suite will offer King Solomon's players multi bet spots on multi-hand blackjack games, double up options on video poker, and mini slot machines that can be played simultaneously with any other game.
Into Space -- GoldenPalace.com's latest marketing ploy is perhaps the most ambitious yet: It aims to be the first casino in space and may very well have the opportunity to do it in October. The online casino is now a featured sponsor of the da Vinci Project, a Canadian team that has entered its rocket Wild Fire in the Ansari X Prize competition to be the first team to privately finance, build, and launch a spaceship carrying three people to a 100 kilometer altitude, return safely to Earth, and then repeat the launch with the ship within 2 weeks. The GoldenPalace logo will appear on the Wild Fire, and if the ship wins the competition its name could go down in the history books. Accompanying the crew on its first trip to space in October will be a laptop equipped with GoldenPalace games and the recently purchased ball from Beckham's missed shoot-out kick during the Euro 2004. GoldenPalace CEO Richard Rowe said, "This is one of the ball's stops on a world tour to raise money for charity. We will be setting up promotional events so that people will get to participate in penalty shoot-out style competitions using the ball. Now they will also be using the first football to have been in space."
CasinoRaven -- New York-based Hudson Global Media Inc, the owner and operator of both online portals Search-Raven.com and CasinoRaven.com, reports that both of its sites are experiencing an increase in visitors and revenues as their names are gaining more recognition in the market. The company now says that it is planning to expand with joint ventures in wireless and broadband markets. By the second quarter of 2005 Hudson expects to add private label dial-up and pre-paid wireless products to its offerings. It is also discussing with broadband providers the possibility of acting as a reseller for high-speed Internet access.