Censured -- England's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today ruled in favor of racecourse bookmaker Geoff Banks in his complaint that a national press ad run by Betfair was unfair and misleading. The ad, which borrowed evidence originating from an episode of BBC's The Money Programme, claimed that a punter who had bet £2 on Betfair 10 minutes before a race on May 18 at Goodwood would have won £334, but if he had bet with a starting price he would have made only £187. The ASA agreed with Banks that such a claim was "unfair because it compared bets placed at different times," and "misleading and unfair because a £2 bet was not representative of the size of bets placed by most customers." The ad was found to be misleading because it didn't mention that Betfair charges a 5 percent commission on winnings. The ASA has ordered Betfair to mention its 5 percent commission rate and to refrain from using a time-based argument in future ads.
Race Fixing Arrests -- City of London Police have arrested three more individuals in their broad investigation of alleged race fixing in over 80 races over the last two years. The latest three, jockey Paul Bradley, trainer Alan Berry and farrier Steve O'Sullivan, were all suspects in a Jockey Club hearing into alleged illegal betting and race fixing surrounding the Hillside Girl running at Carlisle in June 2003. The Jockey Club's case eventually collapsed, but now the City of London Police would like to question the men on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud. The investigation's total number of arrests is now up to 25. Those arrested are out on bail, but police reportedly plan to call them back for questioning in April.
New WLA Execs -- In a meeting held two weeks ago, the World Lottery Association reelected Reidar Nordby, Jr. of Norsk Tipping as president and chose a new executive committee. The committee now consists of Senior Vice President Arthur Gleason of Kentucky Lottery Corporation, Vice President Jan Stewart of Lotterywest, Ray Bates of An Post National Lottery Company, Henry Chan of HKJC Lotteries Limited, Jesús Rodríguez of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, Idrissa Haidara of Société de Pari Mutuel Urbain du Mali, Sergio Díaz of Polla Chilena de Beneficencia, David Loeb, of Western Canada Lottery Corporation, Risto Nieminen of Oy Veikkaus, Luis Vargas of Junta de Protección Social de San José, Friedrich Stickler of Österreichische Lotterien GmbH and Rolf Stypmann of Toto-Lotto Niedersachsen GmbH.
Welcome Aboard -- The Dutch State Lottery has appointed Yvonne van Oort to succeed Hans Smits as CEO in January. Van Oort, who currently serves as CEO of ECI B.V./Euroboek B.V. (part of the Bertelsmann international media company) has over 20 years of senior management experience, including work Unieboek/Van Reemst.
Play-by-Play -- Antigua-based bookmaker CyberSportsBook.com said it plans to begin providing a new live wagering platform called PXP Play by Play Wagering for NFL and college football. PXP allows bettors to place one of a number of wagers before each play, including whether the offensive team will run or pass, how many yards will be gained or whether the team will score on the play. The company plans to add more games to PXP in the near future.
Two Way TV -- Interactive digital media company Two Way TV Australia Ltd will try to raise $40 million through a public float later this month. The company, which has been operating in Australia for over 10 years, has an exclusive license to access Two Way TV UK's library of digital, interactive TV and mobile media applications. The company has already used the licensed technology to collaborate with Sky Racing and TAB Ltd. in developing an interactive racing application that would allow punters to place bets with state-licensed totalisators from their televisions. The company expects to have the betting application available to NSW TAB 1 customers within 18 months.
Making Deals -- Global Interactive Gaming Limited has expanded its deal with Sportingbet to incorporate its play-by-play SportXction betting service into the Spanish Sportingbet site, Miapuesta.com. The service has already launched successfully.