Tote License -- As expected, the U.K. government has given the Tote only seven more years to operate its monopoly on pools betting before other competitors may enter the market. The government is also selling the Tote to the Racing Trust. Sports Minister Richard Caborn says the seven-year extension will give the Racing Trust enough time to establish itself in the market and thereby protect racing's revenue. He also says the opening of the pools-betting market is in the public's best interest.
Littlewoods Poker -- U.K. gaming company Littlewoods Gaming has entered the online poker market with its new poker site at www.littlewoodspoker.com. Using software from WagerLogic Limited, a subsidiary of Toronto-based CryptoLogic, Littlewoods' poker room enables customers to play Texas Hold'em, Omaha, and 7-Card Stud against other players from around the world.
Quoteworthy -- "In my view, exchanges have been more damaging to horseracing than any other concept in my racing lifetime. They have caused damage to owners and trainers; to professional and semi-professional punters; to bookmakers; to the funding of racing; and, worst of all, to the image of the sport."
-- Julian Wilson, former BBC TV racing correspondent. Wilson, who last week contributed a column to the Racing Post that has become the center of much controversy, claims to know that some owners have had horses stopped when they are not able to get the best prices on betting exchanges.
Wilson also said, "In a nutshell, small players on Betfair are ruining the market for those entitled to a decent bet. Owners still pay the bills - up to £400 a week - but they cannot get on without dishonesty or deception. Worse still, certain owners this year, having missed their price, have given instructions that the horse be 'blocked' for another day."
iSportsTV -- The Gaming Channel, which operates Avago, has launched its second iTV project with iSportsTV, a new channel that will feature a variety of sports as well as some other content designed to appeal to a young male audience. iSportsTV, which has gone live on Sky Digital at EPG slot 431, is subscription-free and transmits a live broadcast show from 10:00 a.m. to midday every weekday while Setanta and other sports footage providers supply content for the rest of the day. Most of the content is not live, and the channel's focus is interactive gaming, rather than sports betting.
GamCare Certified -- All of Betfair's employees who deal with the public are now required to attend workshops run by problem gambling charityGamCare, which will establish a code of conduct to help the employees understand how to identify and deal with problem gamblers. All of Betfair's customer-facing staff will be "GamCare qualified and registered" by the end of March 2004, and from then on, no new employees will be allowed to deal with the public without having completed the GamCare program. Betfair spokesman Mark Davies said, "One of the government's keynotes in their approach to the regulation of the gambling industry is the protection of the vulnerable. We have been working closely with GamCare for some time and we are absolutely delighted to be able to launch this initiative. It will increase the understanding of a key issue for our employees, and is a positive, defined step in ensuring there is protection for those who need it."