Balance Restored -- British gambling group Aspinalls Ltd says it has restored a balance of power to the board of Christchurch Casino by getting Arthur Pitcher, the casino's director and managing director, reinstated. Pitcher was removed from the board Dec. 12 after Barry Thomas-- the chairman of Skyline Enterprises, which holds a 42 percent stake in the company and has made its own attempts to purchase Aspinalls' shares-- learned that Aspinalls was in negotiations to sell its shares to Sky City Entertainment Group Ltd. Aspinalls took the matter to the Christchurch High Court to have Pitcher reinstated, and on Monday the parties said they had reached a temporary agreement until a hearing can be held after the new year. Thomas says he is not backing down on his stance to have Pitcher removed.
Rank Sponsors Racing -- Rank Interactive's HardRockCasino.com brand is sponsoring U.S. horse racing coverage on the attheraces TV channel in an attempt to circumvent the ban on bookmakers backing sporting events. Rank hopes customers will navigate to its Blue Square sports betting site from the online casino, since the sports betting site cannot sponsor racing. The sponsorship is part on Rank's plan to increase customer traffic at all three of its gambling sites. Since early October, when Rank began allowing customers to bet across its three sites with a single account, the HardRockCasino site has seen what Rank has termed "dramatic rise in turnover."
ToteMaster -- Thoroughbred Interests, Inc., a company whose core business is acquiring undervalued yearlings and reselling them as two-year-olds in training or as racing prospects, signed a letter of intent to acquire Great American Financial Corp.'s ToteMaster pari-mutuel wagering system. Thoroughbred Interests describes ToteMaster as new technology that aims to revolutionize the racing industry's wagering techniques by utilizing the Internet and cable networks. The company will first market the system to U.S. pari-mutuel wagering facilities and off track betting facilities. The deal is expected to be closed Feb. 10, 2004.