No Comment -- Following on from Monday's news regarding Betfair poker, Mark Davies, communications director for the company, told IGN that Betfair would not comment.
Asian Rollout -- In its second announcement in as many days, Spin3 has agreed to supply PacificNet subsidiary PacificNet Games with a suite of wireless gaming products for release in Cambodia, China, the Philippines and Macau. The suite includes mobile-, Web- and station-based gaming products, Spin3's OnCash patent-pending payments solution and online games -- including slots, video poker and a live-dealer offering -- by Microgaming. "We make the profit sharing model a lot easier to enter into due to the relatively low investment costs required to establish mobile and online gaming operations," said PacGames Online Gaming Director Eugene Ng. This is not Spin3's first venture into Asia. In 2006, the group agreed to provide its play-for-fun SpinFone system to WooWorld, a mobile and online content aggregator targeting residents of Singapore.
Got a Few Bucks? -- James Altucher, a contributor to the Financial Times, wrote this morning that regardless of fears about a potential downturn in the global economy, "you don't have to be a brain surgeon to know . . . more people will be gambling this year than last year." Altucher recommends investors are sure to see a return if they make one small acquisition: a casino. Seriously? Yes, Altucher says. First, casino revenues have gone from $15 billion in 1995 to $32 billion in 2006, with no down years in between; second, more casinos are being built in Las Vegas and in the United Kingdom "as laws are being relaxed"; finally, Macau has replaced Las Vegas as the world leader in gambling revenues, "and that trend is only going to get bigger with a rising middle-class there." Altucher did not specify to which casino market the $15 billion and $32 billion revenue figures applied.
Better Odds for Barack -- According to the Irish Independent, bookies like Paddy Power, William Hill and Boylesports have all slashed the odds on Sen. Barack Obama securing the Democratic nomination to run for U.S. president. In advance of Super Tuesday, all three cut odds on him securing the nomination from six-to-four to six-to-five. Obama is challenging Sen. Hillary Clinton for the nomination.
Coming Soon -- 888 said this morning that it will release its fourth-quarter trading update next Tuesday, Feb. 12. IGN will sit in on the group's phone-in for investors and analysts, with our report to follow later that day.
Stock Watch -- In late-afternoon trading on the LSE today, 888 was down 5.50p to 115.25, Ladbrokes was down 18.25p to 287.25 and William Hill was down 29.75p to 389.50.