Inside Edge Awards -- Betfair.com was named "Editor's Choice of the Year" and its parent company, The Betting Exchange, was named "Firm of the Year" at the inaugural gambling awards hosted by Inside Edge, a British monthly magazine. In December, Betfair won the CBI Growing Business Award for Company of the Year. . . . PokerRoom.com, meanwhile, announced that it has been named "Best Online Poker Site" at the Inside Edge awards ceremony.
LexisNexis Teams With Quova -- LexisNexis, the information solutions provider, and Quova, a leading provider of Web geography services and technologies, announced an alliance to help e-commerce merchants fight global credit card fraud, which industry experts project to reach $60 billion by the end of 2005. Through its RiskWise product line, LexisNexis detects high-risk credit card transactions with advanced identity and address verification. Quova develops geolocation technologies that determine the physical location of Web site visitors in real time. The Quova product will be integrated into the LexisNexis fraud protection suite.
Record Turnout for WPT Event -- The World Poker Tour kicked off its 10th event of the season this week at the Horseshoe/Gold Strike casinos in Tunica, Mississippi with a record 512 players vying for the $5.12 million total prize pool, a $1,664,950 increase over last year's event, which drew 367 players. The winner of this year's $10,000 buy-in event will take home $1,511,282 and will advance to the WPT World Championship when the tour's season culminates at Bellagio in April 2005. The season is comprised of 16 events.
Wireless Zone -- Zone4Play Inc., a developer and provider of multi-platform interactive gaming solutions, has released ZoneITS, a proprietary system that enables the delivery of wireless Java-based applications for fixed odds, sports book, lottery and skill-based gaming services. The initial rollout took place last week when Zone4Play announced a deal with Coral Euronet. ZoneITS will be formally reviewed later this week at the Mobile Gambling Summit in London.