Japan Weighs In -- The Tasmanian State Opposition is linking the Japanese Racing Association's (JRA) apparent no-show at the Japan Racing Association Trophy on Jan. 15 in Hobart to the state government's support for online betting exchange Betfair. The state government responded to the snub by reiterating its confidence in Betfair. But Opposition racing spokeswoman Sue Napier, who once warned that Tasmania would become the pariah of national and international racing if the government allowed Betfair to apply for a license, said that the incident was further evidence of the embarrassment Premier Paul Lennon had brought to Tasmania. She also said the JRA had written to Lennon asking him not to license Betfair, and she called for Lennon's apology to the state.
Doubling -- Research group Screen Digest estimates that the mobile gambling market has doubled in value over the last year, exceeding €1.7 billion in revenues. The finding comes from Screen Digest's new report, which also finds that Japan and Korea were surpassed in 2005 by Europe and the United States. Other findings show that venture capital is being poured into the mobile gaming industry at ever-increasing rates, with €425 million invested in the market since 1999. Global games revenues are expected to hit €7 billion by 2010 and games enabled handsets to increase to €2 billion.
Bidding -- Greek lottery operator OPAP is reporting that three interested parties--lotteries solutions provider Intralot and Scientific Games Corp, and gaming technologies company Gtech Global Services Corp Ltd.--have entered bids to provide new computer betting terminals and software for the company. The process is expected to take up to two months, and the project is expected to begin in 2007 at the earliest.
Sponsoring -- Online casino and poker site 888.com has signed a multi-million-pound, five-year sponsorship deal with World Snooker.
Extending -- OE Netgame, the joint venture between Swedish lottery and gaming products company EssNet AB and Oberthur Gaming Technologies, signed a one-year contract extension last week with Swisslos, the lottery servicing the German and Italian speaking parts of Switzerland. Under the terms of the contract, originally signed in early 2005, OE Netgame provides Swisslos with its turnkey solution and all SMS services related to the game tied to the MiniSafe ticket. MiniSafe is an instant lottery ticket that enables the player to not only scratch the instant portion, but also a second play area that reveals a code sent to Swisslos via SMS for the chance to participate in a weekly cash draw.