Quoteworthy -- "An intimidation tactic to go after the messenger," is what Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nevada, called recent subpoenas issued by the Department of Justice to publishers and broadcasters who have run advertisements for online gambling sites. If the Department of Justice were to pursue court action against any of the subpoenaed parties, it would mark the first time in U.S. history that the government has attempted to prosecute a media agency based on its advertising content.
Portal Sale -- E Net Marketing Ltd., an advertising group that manages 4Gambling.com, CasinoProfit.com and other gaming portals, has acquired the FairBet.org portal for $1.15 million. FairBet.org says its goal is to provide gamers with honest and reliable information about bonuses, purchase and cash-out requirements, game restrictions and rating information for over 1,800 Internet casinos.
Bet on Mars -- After U.S. President George Bush announced yesterday that America would try to launch a human-led exploration mission to Mars, bookmaker William Hill issued 50/1 odds against a man walking on Mars by Dec. 31, 2030. The British betting group has also issued 10/1 odds against any human returning to the moon by Dec. 31, 2015. This is not the first time William Hill has speculated about space exploration. In 1969, after Neil Armstrong took his famous space walk, the company paid out £10,000 to a man who had bet £10 at 1,000/1 odds the no man would reach the moon by the end of the decade.
Contract Conflict -- The Racecourse Association (RA), which represents 49 of the 59 horse racing tracks around Britain, is engaged in a dispute with attheRaces, the consortium of BSkyB, Channel 4 and Arena Leisure that paid £307 million in 2001 for the 10-year media rights to races at the RA's courses. All of attheRaces' interactive gambling profit comes from the government-regulated Tote betting service, but now that the Tote has cut its profit margin to attract more bettors, revenue for attheRaces has plummeted. The contract between the RA and attheRaces states that if attheRaces' share of Tote revenues falls below 20 percent for over 90 consecutive days (which happened on Oct. 24), then atheRaces can issue a 90-day termination notice (which will expire on Jan. 22). The parties would then have a 30-day period to renegotiate. According to the Guardian, attheRaces won't be able to break even until 2006 and might never recover its outlay. It is therefore quite likely that attheRaces will attempt to lower the amount it pays to the RA.
Sportingbet Affiliates -- Sportingbet plc, a U.K.-licensed betting company in its sixth year of operation, has created a performance-based affiliate network that will operate under the private level domain www.SportingBetAffiliates.com and will pay webmasters up to 35 percent of referred customers gross losses. A few months ago the company hired Cyber Success Group Inc., a third-party outsourced affiliate program management provider, to manage the affiliate network and provide innovative strategies.
Promoted -- Digital pay-TV technology solutions company NDS has appointed David Loveday as vice president. Loveday will also serve as the managing director for NDS subsidiary Orbis, which develops online gambling software. Loveday joined Orbis in 2002 and worked closely with James Caddy, the co-founder whom Loveday is now replacing as managing director. Before joining the company, Loveday worked for Sun, Sybase, Informix, Kana and Kiva Software.