Still Battling Victoria -- Betting exchange Betfair Australia is set to go live Tuesday, but it is being denied the right to publish Victorian race fields through legislation introduced in Victoria last year, which gives Racing Victoria the power to prevent any betting exchange or interstate corporate bookmaker from using Victorian race fields and betting on them without authorization. Betfair's legal representatives are reportedly preparing to challenge that legislation in court. "I think the point here is we won't be bullied or intimidated," said Betfair spokesman Andrew Twaits. Meanwhile, the New South Wales government is toying with the idea of introducing similar legislation.
The Next EU Battle Line -- Online gambling site Sportingbet has turned to EU authorities to settle a dispute with Hungary's Gambling Commission over advertising. Sportingbet advertises its services in Hungarian on the Internet, which the commission says is illegal because Sportingbet is not licensed in Hungary. Sportingbet argues that this type of prohibition goes against EU principles, but the commission insists that each member state determines its own rules.
Quoteworthy -- "I don't go around saying mine's the biggest."
- 888 Holdings CEO John Anderson responding on Thursday to claims that Party Gaming had surpassed 888 as the world's biggest Internet casino. Anderson also announced Thursday his intentions to buy a sports betting business targeting non-U.S. punters.
Iconic Offering -- A new Internet marketing tool designed to compete with pixel advertising (in which companies buy ad space by the pixel) was unveiled today. Casinoicons.com invites online gambling companies to rent hyperlinked icons, rather than mere pixels, for $50 a month. But because the icons appear in a desktop environment, only 99 spaces are available.
RNG Certification -- Gibraltar-based software developer Planet Ace Ltd. announced today that the random number generator it uses for its PokerPages software to shuffle cards has been certified by independent online gaming testing firm iTech Labs Australia.