Money Laundering -- A new report by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, a British non-profit financial think tank, examines gambling via traditional bookmakers and betting exchanges and speculates on the ease with which criminals can use such gambling services to launder money. According to authors Michael Mainelli and Sam Dibb, although money laundering fears usually focus on Internet betting operations, the best potential opportunity to launder actually comes from cash betting with betting shops. "We believe the main risk may lie with more traditional betting activities," they wrote. "The key point is that High St. betting shops will still accept very large cash wagers without knowing the identity of the person placing the bet. To convert cash to an apparently legitimate check is very easy." Though cash-based betting is not addressed by the U.K. Money Laundering Regulations of 2003, Mainelli and Dibb suggest it may be a loophole that should be examined. The report addresses betting exchanges by claiming that they have introduced "real market discipline into the gambling area" and have used technology to allow punters to assume the role of layers, which was previously exclusive only to bookmakers. The report recommends that traditional bookmakers must "adapt or die" and states, "Allegations that [exchange betting] undermines the integrity of racing (or sports in general) are self-serving nonsense put about by those who have had their snouts firmly in the public's pockets for years."
Good Deeds -- GoldenPalace.com has purchased the URL "TsunamiRelief.com" and is using the site to raise funds for victims of December's Indian Ocean Tsunami by providing links to 13 charities that are accepting donations. The URL was a source of much controversy before it finally came to rest in the hands of Golden Palace. Free-lance journalist Michelle Tirado registered the domain name and put it up for sale for $99 on eBay the morning she learned of the disaster. After the death toll climbed and she decided she no longer wanted to turn a small profit, she instead donated the URL to a man from Canada who claimed to be with a group called Tsunami International that was trying to raise funds for disaster relief. The man turned out to be a 20-year old Canadian student named Josh Kaplan who immediately put the URL back on eBay, this time for a sale price of $50,000. Tirado then alerted the New York Post that Kaplan was trying to profit off the disaster, and the story was circulated all over the American media. Kaplan, who maintains that he never intended to profit from the sale, eventually sold the URL to Golden Palace for $10,000, all of which has been delivered to Jewish relief agency Chabad of Thailand.
Golden Palace has deviated lately from publicity stunts that involve sporting events, naked people and tattoos and now seems to favor gaining attention by purchasing oddities or by donating to charity. Among its latest charitable deeds is the $10,700 purchase of a bumper sticker that says "Frank Must Die," the proceeds of which will be used to pay for a difficult biopsy of a possibly malignant tumor at the base of a nine-year old boy's skull. The boy nicknamed the tumor "Frankenstein" because he figured if he could get over his fear of a monster he could also get over his fear of the tumor. Last week Golden Palace purchased an authentic plate from the sunken Titanic for $10,000 on eBay from a homeless man.
More Relief -- Other groups in the I-gaming industry continue to help victims of the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Neteller now allows users to donate to the American Red Cross from its Web site and waives all fees associated with donations. . . . BetonSports.com and its shareholders have made an initial donation of $25,000 to a relief fund, and the company's employees have also started a collection that will go toward the fund. In addition, BetonSports will match all customer donations over the next 30 days by 100 percent. The fund will eventually be distributed to UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders and the International Red Cross.
Mobile in Israel -- In two months the Israeli Sports Betting Board will permit the country's citizens to bet via mobile devices with its Toto and Winner brands. Mobile betting is possible now that Israel's Council for the Regularization of Gambling in Sport has signed an agreement with content provider Logia, a subsidiary of cellular provider Cellcom. Betting will only be available to customers of Cellcom at first, but other wireless operators are expected to strike similar deals soon after the launch of mobile betting services on Cellcom. Toto is also anticipating the inevitable regulation of horse racing in Israel after the ministers of finance, education and agriculture approved a proposal to legalize horse racing. Legislation to permit betting on horse races, however, hasn't yet been submitted to the government.
Charity Lotto -- A new lottery called Lucky 7 Lotto is targeting people who are concerned about how the U.K. National Lottery handles charity funds. Operated by Sisson Marketing International, a certified external lottery manager and a bookmaker licensed by the Gaming Board of Great Britain, the company can manage lottery games of any kind in shops or over the Internet on behalf of charities. Each week one the lottery's seven participating charities receives 20 percent of the lottery's profits. The maximum number of tickets that can be sold is 1 million, and the maximum prize fund per week is £500,000. Drawings take place every Friday.
Simulcast Network -- Scientific Games Corporation and Greco & Emmit Creative have announced the launch of the GETV Network, a television network that will air on the thousands of screens at on-track and off-track betting locations in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean that are currently uplinked by Scientific Games Racing.