UK Gambling Bill -- The London Assembly on Monday will launch an investigation into the potential benefits and detriments of proposed super casinos. Public hearings will play a major role in the process, and developers, councils and residents are welcome to provide evidence. At the end of next year, an independent panel will deliver its suggestions to Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who has scaled back the U.K. Gambling Bill's provisions to permit only eight super casinos in the United Kingdom. . . . A general election in the United Kingdom will likely take place on May 5, leaving little time to move the Gambling Bill.
GameWire -- Mobile gaming systems provider Spin3 has partnered with I-gaming software provider Microgaming to launch a new wireless casino. The Spin3 mobile casino system is comprised of the "GameWire" suite of mobile play-for-real casino games and the SpinFone suite of pay-per-download casino games. It also uses Microgaming's backend and casino management technology and provides customer relationship management capabilities, including player management, reporting, data analysis, promotion management and loyalty program tools. Player authentication, financial transactions and gaming activities are protected by Spin3's patent-pending SpinLoc technology. U.K.-based bookmaker Ladbrokes has already launched the Spin3 mobile casino system.
Boyle -- Irish bookmaker BoyleSports at the end of March will launch an Oracle software system that will enable BoyleSports customers to use one account across the company's retail, telephone and Internet betting channels.
More Busts in China -- China's eradication of gambling has progressed even further, with the China Daily reporting today that police in East China's Fujian province have discovered two illegal Internet gambling operations, one of which has a turnover of more than US$1.6 billion per month. Authorities have detained 70 suspects, some of whom are government officials. The Fujian Provincial Public Security Bureau on Dec. 20 began a province-wide sting operation involving 880 policemen to shut down 104 known Internet gambling dens. Police say the entire network was operated by two Taiwan-based gambling Web sites that were involved with mainland syndicates in several coastal cities. The sites offered online football lotteries.
Welcome Aboard -- Per Gustafsson has been appointed vice president of business development of Gaming VC, the German online casino operator that floated on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market in December. Gustafsson was previously sales executive manager for Boss Media, the Swedish company that supplies Gaming VC with online gaming software. Gustafsson will be responsible for Gaming VC's worldwide business development.
Alliance -- Intralot, the Greek lottery company, and Ladbrokes have formed a global strategic alliance that will incorporate lottery, betting, casino and gaming markets. The two juggernauts will cooperate on state lottery privatization projects and participate in state and private lottery tenders.
Totesport Casino -- Totesport, a new betting brand introduced by the U.K. Tote in early 2004, has launched an online casino using software by Playtech. The casino features over 60 games and slots plus 40 instant casino and arcade games. The Totesport.com betting site has also undergone a redesign that includes the introduction of a quick bet menu system.
Betfair Enhancement -- NetScaler, an application delivery systems company, says that it has cut Betfair's bandwidth costs by 33 percent and accelerated application performance by 20 percent since it deployed the NetScaler 9000 Series for Betfair. The NetScaler 9000 is designed to improve response times, server performance and security, and Betfair says it plans to deploy the product in other locations.