North Korea -- As of Wednesday, the South Korean government has officially blocked access to jupae.com, a North Korean gambling site. South Korea's national Internet network operator, KT, says it has cut access to jupae at the request of the Information Communications Ethics Committee, which is responsible for censoring Internet content in the country. Last Monday the South Korean government also followed through on its threat to strip an inter-Korean business license from Hoonnet, the South Korean software developer that helped set up the site. 16 South Koreans face prosecution for gambling with jupae.com. Hoonnet claims the government knew all along that it planned to establish a gambling site.
State of the Union -- From an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal: "Legitimate casino operators in Nevada who otherwise would be interested in landing their fair share of what is projected to be a $6 billion to $10 billion a year pie by 2006 are stymied by the Bush administration's decision that online gaming is illegal and Congress' failure to resolve key issues, including whether to legalize and regulate the business." The article speculates that legislation to regulate I-gaming in the U.S. is very unlikely to pass in an election year, and "University of Nevada, Las Vegas professor and casino industry expert Bill Thompson said the online gaming business is too big to stop "without being Draconian," and he believes it will develop overseas because of the polices of the U.S. government."
Betting on the Pope -- After Pope John Paul II’s recent fits of ill-health, Betfair and Paddy Power have opened lines on which cardinal will become the next pope. The Catholic Church called the bookmakers' actions tasteless and immoral, and it says that speculation should wait until after the pope's death. Paddy Power said that opening a book on the next pope is in the public’s best interest, and Betfair said it has received more demands than complaints for the book. William Hill said it will not open a book on the next pope as a matter of taste.
Tennis -- Three months after the Telegraph reported that tennis players and coaches may be gambling on matches, the Australian Open now requires players and coaches to sign a release stating that they will not gamble on matches. According to the Telegraph, one coach of a top 100 player has been supplying inside information to a betting Web site, three coaches are suspected to have placed bets on their players' matches, and several players have stated that betting is common. One bookmaker said, "Last summer we were seeing two or three matches a week where the result was known before the players walked on court. It was so obvious." Shortly after the news of an alleged betting scandal was circulated, the Association of Tennis Professionals signed a memorandum of understanding with Betfair.
Research -- Problem gambling specialist, Ted Quan, manager of the Multicultural Problem Gambling Service in Australia stated that refugees and migrants are among the people in New Zealand who have the greatest risk of becoming addicted to gambling. Quan suggests education programs in many languages to alleviate the problem.