Boxing Sponsorship -- Sportsbook.com, a Sportingbet brand, is the title sponsor for this weekend's HBO World Championship Boxing card, which features Bernard Hopkins vs. Howard Eastman in the main event. This is the second time Sportsbook.com has sponsored HBO boxing. The company has also sponsored Ultimate Fighting Championship, golf and bull riding.
Quoteworthy -- "Our attempt to take on the justice department has not failed. Rather, it has been elevated to the circuit court level earlier in the process. Now we have a pure First Amendment rights case to be decided by the circuit court through the appeal process. No matter the outcome, the case would have been appealed to the circuit court level. Now the appeal to the circuit court will be able to be more focused on the First Amendment rights issues, and we believe this will likely result in broader support than if the focus were on the narrower issue of online gambling advertisements."
- Michael Corfman, president of Casino City, whose legal case involving the right to advertise for offshore gambling companies was this week dismissed by a district court. The company sought a declaratory judgment stating that the Department of Justice cannot hold advertisers accountable for charges of aiding and abetting illegal activities if they advertise for offshore operators. Casino City attorney Barry Richard stated, "The court did not address the merits of our claim. It ruled that our plaintiff did not have standing to invoke the court's jurisdiction because the government did not actually prosecute or directly threaten to prosecute our client."
Ad Space -- Elisa Harp, a pregnant woman who listed her belly as ad space for rent on eBay, will attend the Daytona 500 this weekend sporting a big, black tattoo of the GoldenPalace.com logo on her stomach. According to Harp, the winning bidder was actually SunPoker.com, but she decided after the auction to sell to Golden Palace instead because the company also offered her a spokeswoman job. She is now being sued by SunPoker for violating eBay's rules. Currently, an eBay search for items containing the words "pregnant advertising" reveals at least 25 different women who want to let advertisers place logos on their bellies.
BAW Deal -- Betandwin.com has signed an agreement with pay-TV network Premiere Austria, giving the network's subscribers the ability to bet on any live soccer game by using Betandwin's mobile betting facilities. Betandwin says it will soon introduce this type of betting to other countries as well.
Online Bingo -- Trade Zap Inc, a company in Vancouver, says it is changing it name to World Bingo League to reflect its planned entry into the online bingo market. The company intends to provide an online bingo software and service platform to "achieve the first worldwide bingo league."