Italian Betting Licensure Awarded -- Financial Times reported last weekend that U.K. bookmakers Ladbrokes, William Hill andGala Coral were among the operators awarded licensure in the now-liberalized Italian betting market. Domestic operator Lottomatica and Greece-based Intralot were also among those awarded licensure, which expires in 2015 and allows companies to open betting shops and offer betting services via phone and Internet. Approximately 16,000 licenses were sold, the paper reported, with Gala making the biggest splash among the U.K. operators after winning 403—Ladbrokes won 142. Italy's Lottomatica, meanwhile, won 1,144 sports betting licenses, with a further 500 for horse-race betting.
To Pay or Not to Pay -- Beleaguered operator BETonSPORTS (BoS) announced through its attorney on Friday that it intends to repay the nearly 5,000 customers who have filed for refunds. Jefferey Demerath, counsel for BoS, said in a court filing last Wednesday with U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson that his client's repayment plans are complicated by an Antiguan court order barring it from distributing assets without that government's consent. A November ruling by Judge Jackson ordered the company to reimburse customers and establish a toll-free phone line for each of its Web sites, providing refund information.
Inked -- I-gaming provider Playtech today announced a four-year agreement with London-listed PartyGaming to power its recently acquired gaming Web sites from Empire Online and Intercontinental Online.
Putin Enacts Russian Ban -- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed on Saturday legislation that will close down slot-machine halls across the country and obligate remaining halls to relocate to designated gambling zones. The bill calls for the creation of four legal gambling zones in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, the Primorsky region of the Pacific coast, the Altai region in Siberia and near the southern cities of Krasnodar and Rostov. Casinos and slot-machine operations elsewhere in the country will be banned effective July 1, 2009.
Podcasting -- Online poker community Live Poker announced last week the launch of a series of Live Poker Podcasts intended to assist online poker players in honing their skills.