Nambling Notes - Dec. 9, 2002

9 December 2002

US Tidbit -- In response to the Pick 6 betting scandal, Scientific Games Corp., which owns Autotote, will begin electronically monitoring all of its U.S.-based customer sites. The company announced today that it signed an agreement with e-Success Inc. for its Integrity Independent Monitoring System. The system will be installed this month and will enable racing associations and regulators to independently keep track of what's happening at the Autotote sites. The Integrity system will check the validity of each transaction, compile pool totals and confirm winnings tickets, as well as detect potentially fraudulent activity.

Making Deals -- In its bid to compete with Rank, Gala Interactive has engaged ItsNotRocketScience to develop a new series of games for www.galagames.co.uk. The games will target low bidders who want to play for fun or bet small sums of money. Nigel Willis, Gala's director of interactive gaming, said the £5 million investment in new games will appeal to new and present customers. "It's important that we constantly give our existing customers a fresh range of games and activities whilst offering new users a fun activity which doesn't require them to spend money," he said. ... Ritz Club London, the online casino site, is joining sides with Formula One racing team Jordan for marketing purposes. The site will promote the Jordan team, while the team markets Ritz Club in its fan newsletter, which has 20,000 subscribers.

Legal Stuff -- Graz, Austria-based gamebookers.com said today that it has acquired a betting license from Styria, Austria. The company said it is choosing to work onshore instead of offshore to increase its reliability. The company has turnover of more than EUR 10 million per month.