Casino City Delays -- Online gambling portal Casino City continues to plead its case for a speedy trial in its complaint against the U.S. government regarding the government's warnings to media outlets that carry advertising for Internet gambling services. The issue at hand is whether discovery should be stayed pending the resolution of the government's motion to dismiss the case. In a telephone status conference on Thursday, Casino City's attorneys argued that the company is suffering commercial harm under the threat of prosecution and, therefore, seeks "a speedy declaration as to its rights to engage lawful commercial speech." The defendant denies the plaintiff's claim that its right to free speech is at issue and contends that based on the strength of the government's case and the likelihood of dismissal, engaging in pretrial discovery would be a waste of time. Another telephone status conference has been scheduled for March 2.
SportXction on TV -- Interactive Systems Worldwide Inc. announced today that the interactive television version of SportXction(TM), the play-by-play sports betting system developed by the company's U.K. subsidiary, Global Interactive Gaming, has successfully completed the formal test process required of all new products to be broadcast over the BSkyB satellite network. The test process was the culmination of over two years and $6 million of system design and development expenditures.
A Ladbrokes Mobile Casino -- British betting group Ladbrokes rolled out mobile casino games this week in hopes of grabbing a piece of a billion market. The Java-based, full-color mobile games were developed for Ladbrokes by Spin3. Ladbrokes' rival, William Hill, rolled out mobile casino games two months ago through a partnership with software developer Boss Media.
iGGBA -- The Interactive Gaming, Gambling and Betting Association (iGGBA) this week announced a new council and a new chairman for 2005.
The new chairman is Richard Flint of BSkyB and the new council consists of Richard Boardley of Littlewoods, Nancy Chan-Palmateer of Wagerlogic/Cryptologic, Peter Nicoll of Victor Chandler, Lee Richardson of Chartwell Games, Simon Burridge of Virgin Games, Chris Thomas of Million 2-1 and Brian Morgan of RAL Interactive. The association hopes to continue addressing important developments concerning the U.K. Gambling Bill and carefully monitoring potential policy changes within the EU.
The Next Chapter of Ladbrokes vs. Sweden -- The English edition of "The Local" reports that Ladbrokes has requested the removal of three of the five judges in the Swedish court hearing its case against the Swedish government. The publication doesn't specify why Ladbrokes wants them removed, only that the company believes the judges are "not partial." Ladbrokes is challenging the Swedish gambling monopoly and the restrictions the government places on private gambling businesses targeting Swedish bettors. The company has appealed a ruling that the monopoly does not violate European regulations, and the case will be heard soon by the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court.
Cassava Joining the Party? -- As reported yesterday in IGN, Party Poker operator PartyGaming publicly acknowledged this week that it is considering an IPO. Now one of its biggest rivals, Cassava Enterprises of Gibraltar, says it's pondering a float as well. "We are looking at the situation very carefully," Cassava Chief Executive John Anderson said. "We are considering all the options, though we haven't appointed any advisers." The company, which operates Casino-On-Net, Pacific Poker and the 888.com portal, is said to be about one-third of the size of PartyGaming.