Mischief-Making Nonsense -- Association of British Bookmakers chief Tom Kelly at Tuesday's annual meeting dismissed betting exchange Betfair's interest in being included in the SP mechanism as "a piece of mischief-making nonsense." Kelly also intimated he was not ready to give up his fight to ensure a level playing field for the traditional fixed odds bookmakers and the exchanges. He asserted that he was not calling for a ban on exchanges and said with the fully operational Gambling Commission about to come into effect the focus must switch from taxation to regulation. "In addition to not paying tax, those users who act as bookmakers on the exchanges are also unlicensed, unidentified and, in some cases, unscrupulous," he said.
Sportingbet's Bet -- Online betting and gaming operator Sportingbet is in position to launch new casino-style games this year to broaden its appeal, based on a 72 percent profit leap in the second quarter. The company downplayed the risk of a US clampdown on online gambling, despite the introduction of a prohibition bill in Congress last week. Sportingbet pointed out that Congress might be reluctant to give full debating time to the bill in a year shortened by senatorial elections in November. The group has also called on the UK Government to sell licenses to online gaming firms and allow them to stay offshore. A decision from the government is expected in March.
Enter Ladbrokes Plc -- Hilton Group PLC officially became Ladbrokes Plc today after finalizing the £3.5 billion (US$6.1 billion) sale of its hotel business to its U.S. counterpart, Hilton Hotels Corp., reuniting the two for the first time since the 1960s. The company reiterated its desire to expand its gaming business, comprised of 2,000 betting shops in Europe, internationally, including a possible entry into the U.S. Ladbrokes said that it will review its position of not accepting U.S. customers to its online gambling sites.
Skill Deal -- GamArena Ab, the operator of skill gaming network GamArena, announced today that they have signed a letter of intent with betting site Betandwin to supply it with a range of sports, casino and arcade skill games.
New Party Platform -- Well-known online gaming company PartyGaming announced today the launch of a fully integrated gaming platform that enables customers to click through seamlessly from PartyPoker.com to PartyCasino.com, and vice versa. Users can now play across both platforms using the new shared purse, aptly named PartyAccount. The company plans to launch the first of two new games before the end of June with the second following before the end of the year.